IPL 2021: Team-wise one 'X-Factor' player in the season

3. Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians)

In the last couple of years, Hardik Pandya has evolved a lot as a cricketer. His exploits in the ODIs and T20Is along with the IPL has made him one of the feared batsmen in the shortest format. He has the ability to change the game towards his team with some big shots. However, the maturity he has shown with the bat in recent times is something that makes him the X-factor of Mumbai Indians. 

The right-handed batsman can bat at any given position in the line-up, which tells you how much impact he can create in this Mumbai Indians side. His ability to score quickly towards the end of the innings and launch an attack on the bowler can be the difference between a final score of 150 and 170. In a T20 match, this difference could be match-winning for any team. 

In addition to this, Pandya is a more than handy bowler for his captains. He has variations with the ball which can be deceiving for the batsmen. Last season, he played as a pure-batsman, but before that in 2018 and 2019, he had got 32 wickets altogether. And coming back to his batting stats, his strike rate in the 2019 and 2020 seasons have been 191.42 and 178.98 respectively.