"Hardik Pandya's far away from getting into the red-ball circuit" - Wasim Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer doesn't see all-rounder Hardik Pandya being a part of India's Test plans anytime soon. The former opener feels Pandya's inability to bowl long spells since his back surgery in 2019 and an unproven batting record in red-ball cricket puts him "far away" from the longest format.
Jaffer's comments came during a discussion on India's captaincy future on ESPNcricinfo's show 'Runorder'. He was asked whether Pandya emerging as a candidate for India's white-ball captaincy meant he wouldn't play Test cricket again.
Jaffer replied by suggesting that Pandya still needs to put in a lot of work to be a Test regular, which won't be possible while leading the white-ball teams. The Ranji Trophy legend added that focusing just on bowling short spells in limited-overs cricket will be best for him as it will help him "prolong his career". Jaffer said:
"Hardik bowling 15 to 18 overs a day, you don't see that happening [due to] the kind of back-surgery he had. Will he bat at four or five? I don't see that happening in red-ball cricket.
"So in that sense, he's far away from getting into the red-ball circuit. So I think if we just leave him bowling four overs or at max 10 overs in One-Dayers and batting at four, five, or six, it will help him prolong his career."
Pandya last played Test cricket during India's 2018 tour of England. It was a brilliant series for him as he collected his maiden five-wicket haul and fourth Test fifty. After his injury, India moved to a new system which usually involves playing an attacking wicketkeeper and just one spin all-rounder in overseas conditions.
In the same interaction, South African fast-bowling legend Dale Steyn was asked, with a reference to Rishabh Pant, how India can choose the right leader for the team. Steyn suggested using someone like Paddy Upton, who was the 'Team Catalyst' at Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2022, as a solution. He said:
"Some teams don't have them but a lot of teams will have someone like a Paddy Upton who will work with players and be able to go to the management and say, "I think this player relishes being a captain".
"You look at Hardik, and it feels like the moment he's given a little bit of responsibility of captaincy, you see the best out of him. You know, all of a sudden this guy is just a completely different player... The 'catalysts', this is where they make their money!"
The Royals asked Upton, a former head coach, to create a "cohesive unit" where players, coaches, and the support staff are all aligned to the same philosophy. RR reached their first final in almost 15 years in IPL 2022.
We are going to keep finding captains like Hardik Pandya from the IPL: Wasim Jaffer
India have seen four players captain the national team since Virat Kohli stepped down. Jaffer attributed this rotation to a packed cricketing schedule. He also believes that once current all-format captain Rohit Sharma retires, India will split the captaincy for different formats, with the IPL as the main supplier of leaders.
Jaffer said:
"It's just the times we are living in. We are seeing so much cricket being played, players are going to be injured, they are going to be rested. At the moment, Rohit Sharma is the captain captain in all three formats but obviously, he's not going to play each and every series.
"He's 34 himself so you don't see him captaining for too long. Going forward, India will look to have split captaincy. Luckily we have IPL where we can assess a lot of Indian captains. We found Hardik Pandya and we are going to keep finding [such captains]."
Pandya's maiden leadership stint in international cricket will begin in the first India-Ireland T20I on Sunday, June 26.
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Samya Majumdar