'Hardik Pandya needs support but Rahul Dravid does not provide it': Parthiv Patel's bold take on India head coach

Things have not gone well for Hardik Pandya in his latest stint as India T20I skipper against West Indies in the Caribbean. India have lost the first two T20Is against the Windies, and on Tuesday, the Men in Blue will need to give their everything to keep themselves alive in the five-match series.

Also read: Misfiring Men in Blue hope to keep series alive

Pandya has been critcised for his captaincy in this series, but former India cricketer Parthiv Patel has a different take to the issue. It’s fair to note that Pandya had led Gujarat Titans (GT) to their maiden title in their debut IPL season in 2022, and led them to the final again earlier this year, where they lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Patel feels that Hardik is not receiving ample support from head coach Rahul Dravid that he gets from his GT coach Ashish Nehra.

“There have been a couple of instances about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy which have been glaring mistakes. The first was giving that over to Axar Patel in the first game when Nicholas Pooran had come out to bat.

“And today, this one (not giving Yuzvendra Chahal his 4th over in the 2nd T20I). Hardik Pandya the captain has been brilliant with GT but at Gujarat Titans he had the support of Ashish Nehra. But is Rahul Dravid the proactive coach or person which we are looking for in the T20 format. I don’t think so. In my mind, we need someone who is proactive,” said Parthiv on Cricbuzz.

“Hardik Pandya has that spark but he needs that support, which to me Rahul Dravid doesn’t provide,” he added.

Patel opined that Chahal should have been allowed to complete his quota of four overs. Chahal had picked two wickets in the 16^th over and finished with figures of 2/19 from three overs.

However, India opted to go with Mukesh Kumar to bowl the penultimate over.

“See, a T20 format is usually something which changes around in one moment of the game. One decision here and there, which in this case was Hardik Pandya not giving that over to Chahal. He did not finish his quota of 4 overs, so to me, that was something which changed the game in the favour of West Indies,” added the 38-year-old.

The third T20I will be played at Guyana’s Providence Stadium on Tuesday.