India vs England 1st T20I: Will give equal importance to both batting and bowling, says Hardik Pandya – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Hardik Pandya was at the heart of Team India’s dominant performance in the first of the three T20Is against England on Thursday.

Pandya became the first Indian to score a half-century as well as register a four-wicket haul in the format as India put behind their heartbreaking loss to the hosts in the fifth and final Test with a clinical 50-run win at the start of the white-ball leg of the tour.

When asked about his performance after the game, Pandya said that he put equal emphasis on his performances with both bat and ball.

“I will give equal importance to my batting and bowling today. That 50 was important as well because we had lost wickets, but we maintained the momentum and we reached a good score. But the bowling bit will take more credit because that spell brought us in the game and made it difficult for England to stay in the game,” the in-form all-rounder said after the match.

Pandya certainly has been having a roaring run in white-ball cricket this year, from captaining Gujarat Titans to title victory on IPL debut to leading from the front in the T20I series against Ireland in which he debuted as India captain.

And Pandya for one, is relishing the revival of his fortunes in the limited-overs formats while focusing entirely on the assignments currently at hand, not necessarily worrying about the future and about regaining his spot in the Test side.

With the fifth Test against England done, India have a white-ball heavy calendar going ahead building to the T20 World Cup that takes place in Australia later this year and Pandya for one appears to have sealed his spot in the side, while also presenting himself as a strong candidate to take over the leadership post-Rohit Sharma.

“This is a white-ball season in a way. There are a couple of world cups coming so for me, it would be better if I can play as much white-ball as possible when the opportunity comes to play Tests then definitely but right now the focus is to play as many matches that come my and perform my 100 per cent in those. If I can’t then I will go out, I won’t take anybody’s place,” Pandya said in the post-match presser.

Pandya additionally avoided answering the question of team combination for the remaining T20Is in which former skipper Virat Kohli along with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant and spin-bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will be available for selection. Given how the team performed as a unit in the first game, it will certainly present a dilemma for the team think-tank.

“I don’t know much about management’s thinking. I’m just playing as an all-rounder. I do as the management says without thinking much,” Pandya said.

The remaining T20Is take place on Saturday and Sunday which will then be followed by three ODIs.

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