India stand-in captain Hardik Pandya enunciating that he doesn’t mind losing an ODI series against West Indies in the name of “uniqueness” hasn’t gone down well with fans on social media platform Twitter. Even though one understands Pandya’s intention behind the selection of his words, semantics of the same don’t sound right for the captain of the national team.
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It is to be noted that India are treating the ongoing three-match series as an opportunity to experiment with their combination ahead of Asia Cup 2023 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. In doing so, the current team management is even up for losing a match or series as achieving “long-term goals” is their most pressing matter at the moment.
Hardik Pandya Doesn’t Mind Losing A Series To West Indies
Leading the team for the second time in a row in Rohit Sharma‘s absence, Pandya was asked by former West Indies spinner Samuel Badree at the toss about whether he would want to break a trend of losing an ODI series against this opposition for the first time since 2006.
For the uninitiated, India have defeated West Indies in 12 bilateral series (seven at home and five in the Caribbean) in a row in this period. Having lost the second ODI in Bridgetown, India will end up on the losing side of a 1-2 series scoreline assuming they lose consecutive ODIs against West Indies after a 12-year period.
“It’s okay. I like to be unique,” Pandya responded to Badree to iterate the above mentioned strategy of the team management. However, less did he realize that his words could be perceived by fans in a totally different manner.
Hardik Pandya Had Claimed That India Can Win Any Competition In The World
Not known to mince his words, it during India’s tour of Sri Lanka 2021 when Pandya had claimed that the Indian cricket team can win any competition in the world.
“Our roles are very clear, even in the main team. With the kind of talent the Indian team possesses right now, I think we can pick two more teams and win any competition in the world,” Pandya had told the host broadcaster before the start of the third ODI in Colombo with India having already gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
A statement made over a couple of years ago still haunts fans primarily because of how the team has played in global tournaments since then. Without naming the tournaments or series, there is no hiding to the fact that India’s performances in some high-profile competitions have been shoddy, to say the least.
As far as role clarity is concerned, India are yet to finalize the same with respect to the ODI World Cup which is slated to begin in just over two months from now. Taking into consideration how not even the biggest of cricket experts can put together a guaranteed Indian Playing XI for the world event, all one hopes is for this team management to benefit from multiple outlandish decisions.
