Hours left for the much-awaited clash as India are all set to face arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai. While fans are excited about the clash, a question that looms over everyone head is what will be the team combination Virat Kohli will go ahead with.
While the team is mostly sorted in everyone's mind, one player in question is Hardik Pandya's form. The all-rounder's selection in the squad has been under tremendous scrutiny as he has not bowled for a while. However, the Indian skipper said that Pandya is very much part of the scheme of things as a finisher.
"What he brings at that No. 6 spot is something that you just can't create overnight, and hence I was always in favour of backing him in Australia as a backer purely, and we saw what he did in the T20 series and how he can take the game away from the opposition when he's in full flow," Kohli said according to NDTV Sports.
When he was asked if Pandya will be able to start bowling, Kohli said that the all-rounder's "physical condition" is improving.
"Honestly I feel that Hardik presently with his physical condition is getting better in terms of being prepared to bowl at least two overs for us at a certain stage in this tournament, and we believe, we strongly think that we can make the most of the opportunity that we have at hand until the time he starts bowling. We have considered a couple of other options to chip in for an over or two. So we are not bothered about that at all," he added.
In the past few years, Pandya has contributed as a pure finisher in the shortest format of the game. Kohli added that the team management understands the value the man brings to the team.
"These things from a discussion point of view seem very interesting that if he doesn't bowl will he be left out, but we understand the value he brings to the team as the No. 6 batter, and in world cricket, if you look around, there are specialists who do that job, and it's very important to have that guy, especially in T20 cricket, who can play and impact innings of that stage. Even when the chips are down, he's someone who can play a long innings playing in that way.
"For us, that is way more valuable than forcing him to do something that he's not ready for at the moment, but he's motivated and he's very keen to start giving us a couple of overs, and when that happens, obviously the balance becomes even better, but we are pretty confident how we are heading into the start of this tournament," Kohli signed off.
