Rahul Dravid credits Hardik Pandya for having made it to the Indian team on his own

The former Indian captain, Rahul Dravid recently attempted to decode the meteoric rise of the young all-rounder, Hardik Pandya. The Indian team had been hunting for a quality all-rounder for quite some time in the past and their quest was rewarded in the form of Pandya, who was promoted to the senior team at a rapid pace from the junior level.

Although a part of this achievement must be attributed to the scarcity of proper all-rounders in the side, Dravid credited Pandya for having made it to the big pedestal on his own merit. Speaking at the pre-departure press conference of the U19 World Cup team, the Indian junior team coach, Dravid lauded Pandya for his hard work and consistent efforts.

The 24-year old is armed with the ability to deliver decent medium-fast bowling coupled with swashbuckling batting skills down the order. Since his debut in 2016, Pandya has played 32 ODIs and 27 T20I matches, where he has scalped 35 and 23 wickets respectively, along with some useful knocks with the willow.

He has the X-factor

Rahul Dravid told the reporters at the press conference, “Hardik came into the team because of himself. He is the one who has put in the performances and he is the one who has that x-factor. When you are a fast bowling all-rounder in India, there aren’t many to compete with and that’s the reality. If you are a batsman or a spin bowler in the country, it’s tough because there are a lot of people you compete with. But fast bowling all-rounders, you can count on fingers of one hand, how many fast bowling all-rounders are playing in India.”

“When that opportunity opened up in the Indian team, we needed to identify that kind of person and credit to the selectors. I can go back to the earlier selection committee, when I first took over the India A job. I remember in Madras, even from that time, this thought was there that we need to identify fast-bowling all-rounder in future, Vijay Shankar, Stuart Binny played that role,” elucidated the ever-dependent batsman of his times.

Dravid went on to praise Hardik for having utilised the opportunity that came his way. “Hardik got that opportunity when Vijay got injured and didn’t come to Australia and he (Hardik) grabbed it with both hands. He bowled quick and batted beautifully, in a particularly Test match, when were 40-6 and got 70, and credit to it he has grabbed it. So sometimes you know, sometimes it can happen with certain roles and specifics that people do get fast-tracked because the opportunity exists,” he said.

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