Despite calls for the rule to be removed, the Impact Player rule is likely to keep its place.© BCCI

Rohit Sharma (L) and Hardik Pandya© BCCI

File image of Hardik Pandya.© AFP

India all-rounder Hardik Pandya remained tight-lipped on matters that kept him in limelight in recent times except for fitness in Mumbai on Saturday, his impassive countenance masking his feelings as he tackles myriad challenges both on and off the field. For a player who has been a hot topic of discussion with all that has transpired of late, Pandya sported a pleasant smile and spoke at length on fitness while launching his sports apparel brand.

Two days ago, Pandya and Natasa Stankovic officially announced their separation after four years of marriage, and just before that, he lost out to Suryakumar Yadav in the race to become the captain of the Indian T20 team for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

On Saturday though, it was all about fitness for him.

“When our body does not get tired, our mind gets tired. So, so many times in my life, the difference between when I was able to push my limits was always the fact that when my mind gets tired, I will tell my body to just push because you will always have extra effort in your body,” Pandya said.

“The difference between, if you do 20 and if I do 20, we are on the same level. But if I push to 25 and if I challenge my mindset, next time I’m going to do 25, next time I’m going to do 30,” he added.

Ironically, his chances of becoming the captain diminished owing to concerns around fitness, due to which he has not been able to play all three formats of the game and bowl extensively in the limited overs game, especially in ODIs.

Earlier this month, Pandya rejoiced with the T20 World Cup-winning team in an open bus, soaking in the love that lakhs of fans poured on him during India’s victory parade.

But a couple of weeks since the ultimate high, Pandya has become a man who has also lost a few significant things.

India’s T20 World Cup vice-captain Pandya was perceived as someone who would fill in the big shoes of Rohit Sharma but the news of his removal from leadership role almost coincided with his divorce announcement.

But Pandya showed no impact of all that when he made his first public appearance to launch his sports apparel brand with Fancode here, sharing insights into his fitness even though talks in the Indian cricket circles remain around him being injury-prone.

Only a few months ago Pandya was at the receiving end of fans’ wrath for replacing Rohit as Mumbai Indians’ captain, but he did not react until he turned it around for himself.

The opportunity arrived with Pandya playing a stellar role in India’s World Cup win and that was when he acknowledged that the going had actually been tough.

“The point that it is very, very important to sometime clean your mind as well, that your body has much more than what you can think and that video (he watched as a 16-year-old) stayed with me for so long that, every time in my life, when my trainer is telling me to do 10 push-ups, I’ve always ended up doing 15,” the 30-year-old shared.

“And that has pushed my limits and I think slowly, everyone who wants to start with a fitness journey they should focus on that,” said Pandya, adding that his highest score in the Yo-Yo test has been 21.7, only a few notches lesser than the upper limit.

“Start pushing your barrier every single day because the human body is such a lovely creation by god that it will mould however you want (it) to, however you want to have it, it’s just that it just needs little hard work,” Pandya said.

He may not be new coach Gautam Gambhir‘s choice for captaincy but he was once described as the “only player in the country to do what he can do” by chief selector Ajit Agarkar.

Pandya shared insights into what drives him.

“I never knew what fitness would do to me, but it’s just that I felt it that for me I always wanted to be No. 1 in everything which I do, so in a habit of that, I kept training a lot when I was young, I pushed myself a lot, ran a lot so I had a very good strong base,” he said.

“Obviously, there was not much knowledge about the body, not much knowledge about how to increase my fitness, but because my base was strong and I did the basics which you are supposed to do while training, it helped me when I came to the higher level.” “I used to bowl if I’m not wrong 130s; higher 130s, I was able to go 140 plus, 142 by pushing, that’s when I realised by 2017 or not as soon as I started getting more more into my body, more knowledge about it and that’s when I start pushing,” he said.

He left the Caribbean basking in the glory of his success in India’s triumphal march to their first ICC tournament title in 11 years. However, in a mere three weeks, Hardik Pandya‘s world has turned upside down. Elite sport can be ruthless and Pandya found that out when he was pipped by Suryakumar Yadav for the post of captain of the Indian T20 side for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka while battling problems on personal front.

The vote of ‘no confidence’ in his leadership ability was so emphatic and in your face that it has left the flamboyant all-rounder facing another big question thanks to one of the most dramatic twists in Indian cricket.

Will Mumbai Indians, the franchise with the deepest pocket and biggest say in the IPL Universe, be ready to give one more year to their current preferred leader Pandya, who replaced their most popular captain (Rohit Sharma) in acrimonious circumstances last year? By leading the team to the T20 World Cup title, Rohit has elevated himself to a position which is second only to Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Indian cricket, barely few months after being dumped by his IPL franchise.

So how do they deal with Rohit before the mega auction next year and what if the Indian skipper isn’t interested in retention.

To make matters more intriguing, MI also have the new Indian T20 captain Surya in their roster, and they will have to retain him at all cost going into next year’s mega auction.

For an Indian skipper’s retention, MI might have to make an offer Surya can’t refuse. As an India captain, what if he now harbours an ambition of also leading the IPL’s most popular franchise.

There is also another angle that needs to be pondered. It is an open secret in Indian cricket that pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah loves the leadership role but since his skills are as precious as gold kept in Fort Knox, he can’t be always summoned to lead the team. But he wouldn’t mind being the first among the equals to be retained.

So where does all this leave Pandya, who moved to MI after a very successful stint with Gujarat Titans following a much-publicised all-cash deal, only to be booed in every nook and corner of the country during the last IPL.

The IPL Governing Council hasn’t yet announced how many retention they will allow and if it is kept at four with one being an overseas player, it leaves the franchise with three Indian choices.

The upcoming mega auction will be all about creating a team for the next five years and some harsh calls will have to be taken.

Those in MI’s core management team, with hands on their hearts, will agree that the manner in which Pandya was elevated as the skipper didn’t end up creating a happy environment, and the last-place finish only strengthened those theories.

Gautam Gambhir‘s entry as India head coach obviously put a spanner in Pandya’s national captaincy prospects but even the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar wasn’t completely convinced that he is tactically as sound as one expects an international skipper to be.

He needs a bit of handholding and Ashish Nehra did that at GT. Mark Boucher wasn’t that man at MI and as per a general feedback, the younger lot in the Indian dressing room have a chance of responding way better to Surya than to Pandya.

What is the road ahead for Pandya right now? A terrific performance first up in the Sri Lanka T20Is to drive home a point. Also he can’t just wait for India games as he will have to play domestic cricket to improve his his below-par international appearance percentage of 50 percent across two white ball formats in last 19 months (69 games (46 out of 79 T20Is and 23 ODIs out of 59 ODIs since Jan 22).

Indian cricket is always full of twists and turns and if Pandya wants to go to the Champions Trophy next year, he will have to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Baroda in December.

Pandya’s leadership ambitions have faced a massive roadblock but in cricket, it ain’t over till the last ball is bowled.

Hardik Pandya being celebrated after T20 World Cup 2024 win.© Instagram

Such is Jasprit Bumrah‘s standard that former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey does not feel the need to advise him. Arguably the most complete bowler in the world across all three formats, Bumrah recently picked up 15 wickets as India won the 2024 T20 World Cup and bagged the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award. Mhambrey has candidly confessed that while he would love to make a name by being known as Bumrah’s coach, the reality is that Bumrah is a “once-in-a-generation” talent.

“What better than Bumrah bowling and I taking the credit? But I don’t. He is a once-in-a-generation bowler,” Mhambrey said, speaking to Vimal Kumar in an interview on the latter’s YouTube channel.

“Bumrah remembers when a batter hit him for a boundary two years ago. He is very competitive and constantly wants to improve. We have to be very smart in handling and preserving him,” said Mhambrey.

Mhambrey served as the bowling coach of Team India during Rahul Dravid‘s tenure as head coach, from November 2021 till the conclusion of the 2024 T20 World Cup. During his stint as bowling coach, Mohammed Shami finished as the leading wicket-taker of the 2023 ODI World Cup, and Arshdeep Singh took the most wickets in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

However, Bumrah is still the one who stood out.

“When I talk to him, I realise that he has a very clear mindset and knows what he is going to do. He understands when a batter is uncomfortable facing him. He then tries to exploit the situation. He will pick up small nuances to guess what the batter is trying to do,” said Mhambrey.

“Be it red ball, ODI, or T20s, he is No. 1,” stated Mhambrey.

Bumrah’s phenomenal T20 World Cup saw him bag 15 wickets at an astonishing economy of merely 4.17. More importantly, Bumrah stepped up when it mattered most, creating a sense of inevitability about his threat. Be it against Pakistan in the group stage, against Australia in the Super 8 or against South Africa in the final, Bumrah’s four overs always created a difference.

England fast-bowling great James Anderson has admitted that legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar is the toughest opponent he has faced in his career. As Anderson draws the curtains on an illustrious career, he has revealed that Tendulkar would be the batsman to whom he would not know what to bowl. Anderson is one of only three bowlers to take more than 700 Test wickets (701* at the time of writing), but even he has admitted that he would not have a game plan against Tendulkar.

Speaking to Sky Sports in a fan Q&A, Anderson said: “The best batter I would have to say is Sachin Tendulkar.”

“I don’t remember having a specific game plan against Sachin Tendulkar,” Anderson said. “I would just think that I cannot bowl a bad ball here, he was that kind of player,” he added.

“If you get him out in India, the whole atmosphere in the ground changes. He was such a big wicket,” Anderson continued.

Despite this revelation, however, it must be noted that Anderson was fairly successful against Tendulkar. In fact, the seamer got him out on eight separate occasions.

“You just try on bowling your best ball, top of off-stump, the whole time and hope he misses a straight one. In England, he might knick the odd one, but generally, I’d try and get him out LBW early,” Anderson explained.

Tendulkar amassed nearly 16,000 Test runs in his career, and averaged over 50 against England, with a best score of 193.

Anderson calls time on his career

After 188 Test matches, James Anderson is playing the final Test of his career at Lord’s as West Indies tour England. However, after West Indies were put into bat, it was pace partner Gus Atkinson who stole the show, grabbing seven wickets to bundle out the opposition for just 121. Anderson picked up just the one wicket, of no. 11 batter Jayden Seales.

File image of Sunil Gavaskar.© X (Twitter)

Star batter Suryakumar Yadav stayed put on second position in the latest ICC Men’s T20I batting rankings, which also features Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made significant progress following his exploits in the ongoing away series against Zimbabwe. Suryakumar is placed second with 821 rating points behind Australia’s Travis Head, who has 844 rating points. Phil Salt of England is paced third with 797 points, ahead of Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (755), Mohammad Rizwan (746) and Jos Buttler (716). Gaikwad has gained 13 places to climb to the seventh spot in the rankings on the back of a stellar 77 not out off 47 balls in a comprehensive 100-run win for India in the second T20I against Zimbabwe.

With most of India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024-winning squad rested for the Zimbabwe tour, the five-game series has allowed India’s back-up players to showcase their talent, and with the retirement of stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, the upcoming players can make a good case for a regular place in the side.

Apart from Gaikwad, Rinku Singh and Abhishek Sharma also made solid gains among the India batters.

Rinku, who was among the reserves for the T20 World Cup, jumped four places to reach the 39th spot on the back of an attacking 48 not out from 22 balls in the second T20I.

And after a duck in the first game, all-rounder Abhishek smashed a stunning 100 from just 47 balls in the second game. With this spectacular knock, he entered the rankings for the first time at 75th spot.

Zimbabwe’s Brian Bennett gained 25 places to finish at the 96th position courtesy of his two attacking cameos, making 22 off 15 and 26 off nine in the two matches.

In the bowlers’ T20I chart, left-arm spinner Axar Patel dropped two places to be the lone Indian in top-10 at the ninth position with 644 rating points.

Fellow left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav also dropped three places to the 11th spot, while T20 World Cup’s player-of-the-tournament Jasprit Bumrah also slid two rungs to 14th position.

Besides, there were some movements in the top 10 positions of the bowling rankings, with Adam Zampa (7th), Fazalhaq Farooqi (8th), and Maheesh Theekshana (10th) gaining positions.

India’s Ravi Bishnoi, with his six scalps in the first two games against Zimbabwe, jumped eight places to move to the 14th spot.

Blessing Muzarabani also gained eight positions after the first two matches, up to 55th, with his spell of 1/17 instrumental in Zimbabwe winning the first T20I.

India vice-captain Hardik Pandya, meanwhile, dropped a place to the second position in the T20I all-rounders’ rankings.

Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka moved to pole position.

India’s Washington Sundar entered the top 50 on the back of his quickfire 27 in the first game, as well as his three wickets in two outings.

Axar is placed 12th in the all-rounders’ rankings.