India is missing a player like Hardik Pandya in Test cricket: Craig McMillan

New Zealand women’s team head coach Craig McMillan says that the Indian Test team lacks an all-rounder like Hardik Pandya, especially in overseas conditions. During the recent series against England, India gave opportunities to players like Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy, but the performance of both was not impressive.

Hardik Pandya’s Test journey

Pandya played his last Test match in 2018 and has played a total of 11 Test matches so far, where he has scored 532 runs at an average of 31.29 and taken 17 wickets at an average of 31.06.

McMillan believes that India has spin all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar on Asian pitches, but does not have a fast all-rounder on foreign grounds, who plays a very important role there. This deficiency was clearly visible in the team during this series.

McMillan said, “In Asian conditions, it is important to have players like Jadeja, Sundar or in earlier times Ashwin. But in teams like New Zealand, Australia and England, a fast bowler all-rounder plays an important role. India is behind in this matter, because the team does not have a player like Hardik Pandya, who can bowl medium pace and can also bat usefully by coming down. England’s Ben Stokes contributes as much as two players.”

Gill gets appreciation

McMillan also praised India’s new Test captain Shubman Gill. He said that Gill captained brilliantly on the England tour, since this was his first series as captain, it is normal to make some mistakes. McMillan further said that Gill is an emerging and good captain. The first series is always challenging.

He may have made some mistakes in the pressure-filled tour, but it will improve with experience. He is the future captain of India, under whose captaincy the series ended in a 2-2 draw against a strong team like England.