Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Hardik Pandya will be able to dominate Pakistan’s spinner Shadab Khan in Asia Cup 2022.
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The arrival of Hardik Pandya in the Indian team has certainly given them the balance which they have been seeking for a long time now. Pandya has been back to his best with both bat and the ball, and he will play a massive role for the Indian team in Asia Cup 2022.
Pandya was dropped from the team after the T20 World Cup last year but made a strong comeback in IPL 2022. He won the IPL 2022 title as captain of the Gujarat Titans, and he was great personally as well. Pandya scored 487 IPL 2022 runs at 44.27, whereas he also scalped eight wickets with the ball. He recently won the player of the tournament award in the ODI series against England.
Sanjay Manjrekar expects Hardik Pandya to dominate Shadab Khan
Former Indian player Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Hardik has a pretty good record against Pakistan, and he is batting like a dream at the moment. The way Hardik batted against them in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy is still fresh, whereas he was brilliant in the 2019 World Cup as well.
“Hardik Pandya has a pretty good record against Pakistan. If you remember the 2019 World Cup as well, he was the one who got runs in that match against Pakistan. Hardik Pandya, at the moment, is batting like a dream,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
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Manjrekar also talked about the possible battle between Pakistan’s pacer Shadab Khan and Hardik Pandya. He said that Shadab is a more experienced bowler, but the way Hardik is batting at the moment, he should be able to manage Shadab.
“Shadab is also now more experienced than he was say three-four years back. But Hardik at the moment, as I said, is at the top of his game. So Shadab Khan – despite being a pretty good bowler – Hardik Pandya should be able to manage him,” Manjrekar added.
Hardik has not played a T20 match against Shadab Khan, but he has played against him in ODIs, where he has certainly dominated him. Pandya has smashed 46 runs in 22 balls against Shadab at a strike-rate of 209.09. Shadab has not dismissed Hardik so far.
Shadab had a brilliant PSL 2022 for Islamabad United with both bat and ball. He scalped 19 wickets in 9 matches, whereas he scored 268 runs at a brilliant S/R of 162.42. Shadab has aimed to be the player of the tournament in Asia Cup 2022.
