Hardik Pandya has to work on his remodeled action if he wishes to play Tests longer, reckons childhood coach

Hardik Pandya was once looked at as a great prospect for the Indian team to solve their all-rounder’s problem in overseas Tests. In 2017, when he made his Test debut, everyone had high hopes for him. And the Baroda all-rounder did stand up tall with quality performances in the longest format. But, injuries have now kept him out of the longest format and may continue so for the rest of his career.

Amidst this, Hardik Pandya’s childhood coach has spoken about his chances of featuring in Test cricket in the upcoming seasons. According to Jitender Singh, Hardik has to remodel his action in order to be effective in the longest format for a significant amount of time. While speaking about this, Singh took an example from Hardik’s career. 

“If he has to play in Test cricket for a longer duration, he has to work a lot on his remodeled action. I remember, he was dropped after the T20 world cup in 2016 and after that, he didn’t have a great IPL either. Then, we worked together in Baroda on his action. After that, he was selected for an India A tour and went to Australia and got his rhythm back,” Singh said to News18.com. 

As a coach, my dream has always been to see Hardik Pandya play more Tests ponders Jitender Singh

His coach further made a point that the younger Pandya brother was a late bloomer in terms of being a pacer, meaning he only started bowling as a pacer at an age of 15 or 16, which is quite late to pace. “We must not forget the fact that he has been a late-bloomer as a pacer and the muscles will take time to adjust to the workload,” Singh said. 

Singh further said that with the hectic international schedule, it becomes really difficult for him or Hardik to work on his action. However, the childhood coach said that he dreams that Pandya plays more Test cricket and even said that he knows the young all-rounder will definitely play Test cricket in the future. Singh has been involved in the development of both Krunal and Hardik Pandya.

Hardik played his last Test in 2018. He has experience of playing 11 Tests so far. Pandya has made 532 runs with one century and four fifties. He also has 17 wickets at an average of 31, which includes a fantastic five-for in Nottingham against England in 2018, which helped India to victory.