India succumbed to an embarrassing defeat against England in the second One Day International of the three-match series by 6 wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. One of the main reasons behind India losing the game was the absence of a sixth bowling option as both spinners including the likes of Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav leaked runs at an economy rate of 12 and 8.4, respectively.

Though all-rounder Hardik Pandya was a part of the Playing XI, he didn’t bowl even a single over and the same raised a lot of eyebrows in the cricket fraternity. Interestingly, Hardik bowled 3-4 overs in almost every game of the just-concluded T20I series against the same opponents.

When Indian skipper Virat Kohli was asked the reason behind not handing the ball to Hardik he had said during the post-match presentation, “We need to manage his (Hardik) body. Need to understand where we need this skill set. Did utilize him in the T20Is but in the ODIs, it’s about managing his workload. We have Test cricket in England coming up too. So it’s important for us to have him fit.”

I don’t know who decides that Hardik Pandya’s workload has become excessive: Virender Sehwag

The explanation given by Virat regarding not utilizing Hardik as a bowler didn’t go well with former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag as he slammed the team-management for not taking the ODI series seriously. Sehwag asserted that there will be no international cricket for the next 2-3 months and Hardik hasn’t played much cricket in the past few months, therefore he could have easily bowled a few overs to help India save the game.

“We only have the IPL next. So you are saying that we have no problem losing the ODI series because we had to manage Hardik Pandya’s workload. If his workload doesn’t include 4-5 overs then it’s wrong. But it also shouldn’t be the case that he isn’t bowling even a single over. Fielding for 50 overs also causes fatigue. So if he adds 4-5 overs to it, it shouldn’t make a huge difference on his workload.

“I don’t know who decides that Hardik Pandya’s workload has become excessive. Since he has come back from his [back] surgery, he hasn’t played much cricket. He sat out in the Tests, played the 5 T20Is, and bowled in 2-3 of those… so he hasn’t taken any load yet. But yes, this is a possibility that he himself might have asked for a break from bowling in the ODIs to prevent any injuries before the IPL,” Virender Sehwag said as quoted by Cricbuzz.