'I miss him, India need him at T20 World Cup'- MI bowling coach Shane Bond on Hardik Pandya

Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond is mighty impressed with the way Hardik Pandya performed for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. The former New Zealand pacer is also confident that the star all-rounder will do a wonderful job for India in this year’s ICC T20 World Cup, which will take place in Australia.

After being released by five-time winners Mumbai Indians, Hardik was roped in by the new franchise Gujarat Titans ahead of the 15th edition of the marquee tournament for a staggering INR 15 crore. He was also appointed as captain and he led GT outstandingly well. As a result, the Titans finished as table-toppers in the league phase and later went on to lift their maiden title.

Hardik Pandya is a pretty cool captain: Shane Bond

“Hardik is a pretty cool captain. He came in the IPL to Mumbai in my first season so we spent a lot of time together. It was probably a foreign role for him to step up as a leader for a different franchise but he did a great job. From my perspective, I miss him. It would have been nice to have in around in our team because he is a quality player. India need him too for the World Cup because he showed what a quality player he is and also what a good leader he is,” said Shane Bond while speaking to Sportskeeda.

Apart from leading  Gujarat Titans, Hardik also had a dream run with both the bat and ball. He scored 487 runs from 15 matches and also took eight wickets with his best performance coming against the Rajasthan Royals in the final where he took 3/17 and completely broke the backbone of the 2008 champions, restricting them to a below-par total of 130/9.

Pandya will next be seen in action during the five-match home T20Is against South Africa starting June 9. This would also mark his return to international cricket after the T20 World Cup 2021 in November last year.