Hardik Pandya clarifies Kuldeep Yadav's inclusion for Lord's Test

After being 0-1 down in the series, even the Lord’s Test has gone out of the grasp for Team India. They have to bat extremely well now and save the game while also praying that the rain does its job according to the weather forecast. The visitors’ strategy to pick Kuldeep Yadav has left many perplexed who didn’t get even a hint of turn on day 3. However, Hardik Pandya has clarified his inclusion in the side and shed light on his own role in the team.

India were in the game until the first hour of the second session as they had reduced the hosts to 131/5. But Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow put on a heroic 189-run stand for the sixth wicket to pile on their agony through the remainder of the day. The former scored a fantastic century as well with his partner missing out narrowly as England ended the day with a hefty lead of 250 runs in the first innings.

There were no footmarks on the pitch

Hardik Pandya cleared that the team felt only three pacers were enough on this pitch and had it been a five-day game, Kuldeep would’ve been a handful. But as it turned out, the chinaman was taken for runs easily and didn’t trouble any batsmen even a bit.

“Obviously. We had some thought behind it (Kuldeep’s inclusion). But we felt that three seamers were enough. We bowled properly, gave our full effort. Had this been a five-day game, the spinners would have come to use, but with the rain and everything, it stopped. There weren’t many footmarks created so it was not gripping that much,” he said while speaking to the reporters after the end of day’s play.

On his role

Hardik’s place in the Test side is under the scanner after failing to prove himself both as the batsman and the bowler. There was no surprise when the question about his role in the team popped up. The youngster was quick to state that his job is to bowl tight lines and lengths and wait for the batsmen to make a mistake which is the reason he doesn’t try too much.

“I don’t have any one particular role. I’m a batsman when I’m batting, bowler when I’m bowling. That’s my role, to keep it right and try to make sure that the batsman makes mistakes rather than me trying out too many stuff. We know that they love to play shots and when you’re doing that you tend to make a few errors,” Pandya added.

The fourth day is likely to get washed out due to persistent rain as the weather forecast is for thundery showers in London. India will be praying for the same to happen on the fifth day as well as conditions will once again change drastically.

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