Can Hardik Pandya And Arshdeep Singh Deliver In The Super 8 Stage?

 
The real test for Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh will come in the coming days in the Super 8 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with all 12 matches to be played in the Caribbean Islands, but in the preliminary stage, these two have turned out to be top-notch performers with the ball. While Jasprit Bumrah took centre stage with incisive spells against Pakistan and the men in blue’s opening campaign against the USA, Pandya and Arshdeep did their business in a smart manner. The `drop-in surface’ at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium – that was transported from Adelaide was said to be dubious. Whatever, Pandya and Arshdeep had a ball. They vindicated the national selection committee and team management’s emphatic call to back them for the global competition seen as no less than the 50-over format played in India last year. Pandya and Arshdeep were picked because they had solid performances for the men in blue, and calls to pick a handful of successful bowlers in the Tata-IPL-17 were dismissed by people with a significant say in selection matters.  Pandya leads the bowling honours for India with seven scalps in three matches at 9.29, with a strike rate of 10.29, and the Sardar from Punjab has seven wickets at 10.71, with a strike rate of 10.29. Pandya missed the previous event in Australia in 2022 and was pilloried for not bowling much in the same event in Dubai in 2021. Pandya has 80 wickets for India in the format – third behind Yuzvendra Chahal (96) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (90), and Arshdeep has 69 wickets, sixth overall and behind Bumrah (79) and Ravichandran Ashwin (72).