Hardik Pandya is currently in India, in the process of attaining full fitness. But he was missed by fans during the first two ODIs against South Africa when India needed runs from the lower middle order in Paarl.
Hardik Pandya had a poor 2021 both for India and in the IPL for Mumbai Indians. Not only his bat was quiet for most of the time last year, but he also rarely delivered any overs. He not bowled a single ball in the entire IPL 2021 and sent down just 4 overs in the entire T20 World Cup.
There were calls for him to be dropped, after the T20 World Cup, Pandya was excluded – it’s still not clear whether he was dropped or not fit for selection – from the home series against New Zealand and the following ODI series in South Africa.
In that time, Venkatesh Iyer took the IPL by storm when he turned KKR’s season on its head and helped them through to the final. In 10 IPL innings in the UAE last year, Venkatesh Iyer averaged 41 with 4 fifties, including one in the final.
With Pandya struggling for form and fitness, Venkatesh Iyer was selected as the seam-bowling all-rounder. He then played in all the 3 T20Is against New Zealand, in which he scored 36 runs in matches at a strike rate of 128 and picked up 1 wicket.
While Venkatesh has shown his talent, he is limited in skillset; he has found it difficult to get going and hit the lusty blows towards the end of the innings. The temperament to bide his time and set his eye in was missing in the two ODIs against South Africa.
In the 2 ODIs in Paarl, the left-hander managed 24 runs, and didn’t look comfortable at all facing either the quicks or the spinners. While the Protea spinners enjoyed a good outing against the Indian batting in the second ODI, fans remembered how Hardik Pandya used to assault the spinners irrespective of the surface.
Also, Venkatesh wasn’t asked to bowl a single over by skipper KL Rahul in the first ODI, irking the netizens even more.
Some of the fans were outright in stating that Hardik Pandya remains India’s premier all-rounder and that Venkatesh Iyer has plenty to learn and achieve in order to be considered as Pandya’s replacement.
Here are some of the tweets from fans who weren’t happy with Venkatesh Iyer for his mediocre show so far, and who believe that a fit Pandya would change the complexion of the struggling lower middle-order.
You go with Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube, Venkatesh Iyer but ultimately you will come back to Hardik Pandya only #INDvsSA
— Chinmay Gharpure (@chinmay_8990) January 21, 2022
The biggest joke i ever heard.. Venkatesh Iyer to replace Hardik Pandya.. ? ? ? ?. He can’t even do 1% of what Hardik does in death overs most of the time #2ndodi #INDvSA
— Nitin Choudhary (@NitinCh75576784) January 21, 2022
Out of form Hardik Pandya is hundred times better than Venkatesh Iyer. #SAvIND
— Aadesh (@aadeshkolte) January 21, 2022
Hardik pandya even with one leg is better than V.Iyer
A fully fit hardik was very dependable with both bat and ball
— F L ? C K (@82_notout) January 19, 2022
The quality that Hardik Pandya provides is not being showed by Venkatesh Iyer.
*Quality is also not shown by Shreyas Iyer.
SKY for Shreyas in 3 ODI?#INDvsSA #HardikPandya #shreyasiyer— Apoorv Kalla (@Apoorvk18) January 21, 2022
One thing is clear venkatesh Iyer is not replacement of hardik Pandya @BCV #INDvsSA
— Stronger…. (@Sandeep41273830) January 21, 2022
Venkatesh iyer is not even close to what Hardik Pandya can offer.
— Manish Kumar Singh (@mk748640) January 21, 2022
So Hardik Pandya who was out of the team bcoz of not contributing with the ball replaced by Venkatesh Iyer who ll not be given bowling. Nice. #SAvIND
— Anand Madhav (@Anandmadhav96) January 19, 2022
Venkatesh Iyer just showed how poorly he is ready for International cricket.
He needs some domestic more.
Such a poor shot at this time. ?@hardikpandya7 please come back soon. #INDvsSA
— Diwakar¹⁸ (@diwakarkumar47) January 19, 2022
Venkatesh Iyer is making us to think Hardik Pandya was much better player than him #INDvsSA
— Divagar (@divagar90) January 21, 2022
I can’t believe they trying to replace Hardik Pandya with this V.Iyer what an L by India ??
— Ailer (@_Ailer__) January 21, 2022
