Hardik Pandya is a game-changer: MS Dhoni

“Good to see him bowl four overs. It will give us a lot of strength — three fast bowlers and two proper spinners. You don’t need to change your team as every base is covered.

When Pandya walked into the middle, India were tottering at 97/4 in the 15th over, but a quickfire 31, of just 18 deliveries, from the hard-hitting all-rounder provided his team with the much-needed momentum towards the end of the innings. Pandya also dismissed Sabbir Rahman, who was looking dangerous for Bangladesh, and finished with a figure of 1/23 in his four overs.

Dhoni said that Pandya knows his role in the batting lineup and does not require specific instructions while coming on to bat. He said, “We don’t need to tell Hardik anything. He knows only one thing - that is to hit the ball, that’s what he does. He is someone who likes to clear the boundary.

“The more games he will play, better he will get. But definitely he has a skill, which is a difficult one - that is to hit from the first ball”.

“To a lot of extent, people who can bat and bowl, are able to contribute in this format. More all-rounders you have, better it is. At times, you can go with four specialist bowlers if you have 4-5 good part-timers. In good conditions, Yuvi, Raina can do the job. In other formats you can debate but T20 is a game of all-rounders. If I want, he (Hardik) can give me one, two or four overs,” Dhoni said in praise of the Baroda youngster.

“But I won’t like to comment on T20 performances as it is entirely different from 50 overs. In T20, you can get away in the four overs, but in ODI, you will bowl for five overs, then come back for a second and third spell, it will be completely different scenario but he is definitely somebody, who has the talent and can do the job for us,” he added.