Indian cricket is at the moment contending with two distinct variations of Hardik Pandya. His worldwide avatar is nearer to his youthful self, an unforgiving slugger and finisher within the loss of life overs. Regardless of the odd blips, Hardik has topped his T20I challenges since final 12 months, even when the IPL circuit hasn’t been precisely sort to him.
The center-order cavalry round Hardik might be in flux on India’s highway to the 2026 T20 World Cup. Whereas none can problem Hardik’s spot, India can be seeking to nail in a number of spots apart from him, between Nos. 5-8 for fool-proof slog-overs smashing, with spin all-rounder Axar Patel seemingly cementing one other slot.
Whereas one retains a tab on these different contenders, Hardik’s curious ‘death-overs degeneration’ within the IPL springs a faintly distending concern.
The Mumbai Indians captain fronted tempo on the loss of life (17-20) in seven innings this IPL season. Whereas he has smote 11 boundaries, Hardik isn’t as deadly with the blade as he was, averaging 15 in opposition to the seamers after being dismissed 5 occasions in 39 deliveries.
| IPL loss of life overs batting | Inns | Runs | Dismissals | SR | 4s | 6s | Ball/Boundary |
| Hardik (2022-25*) | 23 | 305 | 12 | 172.31 | 23 | 16 | 4.42 |
| Shashank Singh (2024 onwards) | 4 | 278 | 2 | 212.21 | 23 | 17 | 3.27 |
Sporting a barely recalibrated batting function since his Gujarat Titans stint in 2022, Hardik’s presence has diminished on the loss of life. It takes the output of the 4 seasons put collectively for Hardik’s slog-overs numbers to overhaul all Indian batters within the league since final 12 months.
Whereas none have practically embraced the death-overs specialism with consistency since MS Dhoni’s heyday within the league, Shashank Singh is catching up with the very best within the part from 2024 onwards. The Punjab Kings batter arguably holds the very best death-over aggregates amongst all Indian bats within the interval. In his IPL second wind, the 33-year-old Shashank has racked up 287 runs on the loss of life, practically 44 p.c of his general runs within the two seasons.
Solely 4 batters have registered extra runs on this part on this time, with no Indian scoring extra runs at a greater strike fee than Shashank’s 212.21.
Story continues under this advert
‘Ending’ distinction
Bashing each left-arm and right-arm pacers with a 200-plus SR, Shashank provides 15-20 runs greater than the common batter in opposition to the quicks on the loss of life.
Shashank’s profile practically eclipses Hardik’s 2022-25 haul – 305 runs at a 172.24 SR – single-handedly. Hardik’s diminishing returns in opposition to seam are evident when positioned in opposition to his 2019 self, the very best 12 months for any Indian death-overs finisher within the IPL.
| Hardik Pandya on the loss of life v tempo since 2024 | |||||
| IPL | SR | SR diff wrt common batter | Boundary % | Dot % |
Ave |
| Left Arm Tempo | 236.84 | 31.01 | 36.84 | 21.05 | 22.5 |
| Proper Arm Tempo | 148.48 | -15.76 | 18.6 | 32.56 | 7.11 |
| T20I | SR | SR diff wrt common batter | Boundary % | Dot % | Ave |
| Left Arm Tempo | 217.86 | 49.69 | 39.29 | 32.14 | – |
| Proper Arm Tempo | 177.78 | 22.14 | 26.39 | 38.89 | 16 |
Since final season, Hardik has struck at 175.81 on the loss of life, comparatively increased on dot ball percentages and weaker in digging out the right-arm seamers. His 148.84 SR in opposition to right-arm tempo places him behind the common batter within the part by practically 15 runs. Within the previous two seasons between 2022-23, Hardik slumped in opposition to the left-arm quicks, struggling to tempo himself previous an odd and off-putting 76.47 SR, practically 56 runs fewer than the common bat.
Curiously, Hardik within the Indian blues, flips the scales completely along with his performances demanding top-tier standing. India’s highest-ever run-scorer within the T20I slog-overs at 904 runs in 60 outings, Hardik has gathered practically 22.4 p.c (203) of these in 13 innings since 2024. Putting at 181.25, no batter from Full-Member sides has topped him within the interval.
Story continues under this advert
Whereas he juggles between the intricately completely different roles, Hardik is poised to ship on the worldwide stage, veering the main target in the direction of his potential T20I middle-order/death-overs associates. Variances of their placing efficacies place Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh underneath the scanner.
Regardless of matching Hardik’s death-overs SR for India since 2024, Dube and Rinku’s underwhelming current runs will enlarge their shortcomings in a rising pool of designated death-overs hitters.
With Dube usually holding the No. 5 spot and a bigger presence within the middle-overs, India’s No. 7, behind Hardik, may warrant a number of auditions. Diminished to a cameo man with the Kolkata Knight Riders regardless of his spectacular IPL 2023 season, Rinku’s depleted sport time is not going to seemingly have an effect on his benefit for the function, however there are new challengers on board. Rinku’s 99 runs on the loss of life this season aren’t eye-popping by any means. His 235.71 SR, although, hasn’t been overhauled by any of the 13 batters who’ve aggregated 100-plus runs within the part.
| Main Indian batters in death-overs in IPL 2025 | ||||||
| Gamers | Runs (Inn) | SR | AVE | 4s | 6s | BpB |
| Shashank Singh | 162 (7) | 197.56 | 162 | 15 | 7 | 3.7 |
| Dhruv Jurel | 133 (8) | 198.5 | 33.25 | 8 | 10 | 3.7 |
| Naman Dhir | 132 (9) | 206.25 | 26.4 | 11 | 9 | 3.2 |
| Ashutosh Sharma | 115 (8) | 185.48 | 19.16 | 9 | 8 | 3.6 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 110 (7) | 244.44 | 36.66 | 9 | 9 | 2.5 |
| Ayush Badoni | 106 (7) | 189.28 | 17.66 | 5 | 11 | 3.7 |
| Jitesh Sharma | 102 (7) | 182.14 | 34 | 8 | 8 | 3.5 |
| Rinku Singh | 99 (6) | 235.71 | 33 | 33 | 13 | 2.2 |
*consists of gamers obtainable for T20Is
Story continues under this advert
There may be promise within the ending spurts of Naman Dhir (132 runs and 206.25) and Ashutosh Sharma (115 runs at 185.48), and others behind Shashank (162 at 197.56) within the leaderboard this season.
The shortage of a licensed second dimension of their respective ability units locations the trio, alongside Rinku, in a tough race for a place in India’s revamping T20I decrease order. Wicket-keepers Dhruv Jurel and Jitesh Sharma may enter the fray on this regard.
Hardik’s wavering splits may disrupt the comforts of the expendable No. 7 earlier than a house World Cup subsequent summer time. Rinku will lead the bid, however India have a number of extra veritable weapons to scope out within the highway forward.