With a significant uptick in bowling returns, Pandya is a frontline fast bowler in the eyes of Rohit Sharma. ©AFP
Hardik Pandya has been hard at work in the days leading up to India's World Cup opener against Australia in Chennai. He bowled full tilt in steamy afternoon conditions three days before the game and then doubled up the following day with an additional session of death overs batting.
The sessions by themself weren't anything strikingly different but its intensity caught the eye. Especially so in the context of the long, nine-match league campaign at the tournament and India's tendency to have their star seam-bowling all-rounder wrapped up in a bubble-wrap since his return from a lengthy back injury in 2020.
The vice-captain's utility to India's cause cannot be understated. An early glimpse of that is likely in Sunday's opener against Australia, where Pandya is set to play as a frontline third seamer, allowing Rohit Sharma to field all three spinners -- Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and R. Ashwin on a pitch that doesn't look very dissimilar to
