He’s promised he’s going to commit everything to be the all-rounder the team needs: Virat Kohli on Pandya

India skipper Virat Kohli on Monday heaped praise on Hardik Pandya’s effort and said that that he has promised to keep his nose to the grindstone for the next eight months. 

The all-rounder, who had not bowled much since the back injury he suffered last year, returned with his bowling. Having bowled a couple of overs in the first T20I, he went onto complete his full quota of four overs in the second fixture. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Kohli added that a player of Hardik Pandya’s stature is priceless. The 26-year-old provides profundity to the roster with his three-dimension skills.

“Credit to Hardik that he's bowling at least three overs for us in every game. And the next six to eight months period he’s promised he’s going to commit everything to be the all-rounder the team needs in all three formats. He plays for the team at all times and these kinds of players are priceless, ” - Kohli was quoted as saying.

After a forgetful outing in the 1st T20I, Team India came up trumps, beating England by 7 wickets. Steadfast half-centuries from debutant Ishan Kishan and Virat Kohli helped India chase down the 165-run target with 13 balls to spare. The latter broke several records en route his 26th T20I fifty. He became the first batsman to score 3,000 runs in T20 internationals. In addition to that, he completed 12,000 runs as captain, becoming the fastest captain to do so. He achieved the feat in his 226th international innings.

The captain felt that the team brought their A-game and also applauded Washington Sundar for his miserly spell.

“Quite a good game for us. I think we ticked all the boxes we wanted to. Especially in the first innings with the ball. To give away only 34 in the last five, very smart bowling. Specially Washy, he had only one left-hander to bowl to and he used the big boundary to the right-handers better, ” - He added.

The five-match T20I series is now evenly poised with both teams winning a game each. The two teams will lock horns in the third T20I on 16th March.