Indian star all-rounder Hardik Pandya talked about Jasprit Bumrah and how his health and rest are important. India and Australia played the first match on 20th September at the IN Bindra Stadium in Mohali, Punjab. It was a good performance by both teams but Australia took the lead and won the first T20I.
Hardik Pandya opened up about why Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t included in the playing squad despite naming him for the series. “We all know what he brings to the table and how important he is for us. There will be concerns here and there which is fine. We got to trust our boys. These are the best 15 in the country and that is why they are there in the squad. Jasprit not being there obviously makes a big difference. He is coming back after an injury, it is important for him to get enough time to kind of come back and maybe not put a lot of pressure on himself.”
India had a poor bowling performance. Despite giving a good target of 208 runs India had to face loss. India’s star bowler was absent from the match and was rested. Bowlers gave plenty of runs to Australian batters and lost the match. Only Axar Patel and Umesh Yadav were the best wicket getters of the innings.
Pandya talked about his performance. “I have gotten a lot of success recently but for me, what is more, important is that even on my good days how can I get better? The kind of career graph I have had, I don’t make a big deal about my performance whether success or failure.”
“I had a good game today. They could target me in the next game and I need to be one step ahead” Pandya scored 72 runs for the Indian team which was the highest run amongst both teams. He smashed seven boundaries and five sixes and also bowled with an average economy.
Hardik credited opposition batters. “There was no dew. You have to give credit to them for the way they batter. They played good cricket. We could not execute our plans with the ball, with our deliveries.”
“You can’t pinpoint why we lost. It is a game. It is a bilateral series. We got two more matches and we will try to perform better.”
