Former South African wicketkeeper-batter AB de Villiers has praised Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, believing he could be a decisive factor in India's campaign in the T20I World Cup 2026. The mega event, which is scheduled to begin on February 7, will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. As for Pandya, he has been in extremely excellent form, having recently scored 133 off 92 balls in the Vijay Hazare Trophy while playing for Baroda.

"There are a lot of players offering skill with both bat and ball, so you can really play around with the balance. Abhishek Sharma upfront, Sanju Samson wicketkeeper. I noted no Rishabh Pant here, no Shubman Gill, no Yashasvi Jaiswal, no Jitesh Sharma, so those are the unlucky guys who missed out," AB said on his YouTube channel. 

"Hardik will be the big pivotal player. He's the guy who can win you games. When he walks out to bat, there's a sense in the opposition like we need to get him out. Same with the ball in hand, the minute he comes on, you feel like he has a golden arm, so a great asset," he said.

India brought back Ishan Kishan, who earned a place in the team after performing splendidly in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he led his team, Jharkhand, to their first title win. But another destructive opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal, was left out. 

"Interesting that Ishan Kishan comes in as a wicketkeeping option. Will he play? Where will he bat? Looking at the top three, there's a bit of a headache there for them. Will Abhishek and Samson open or will Ishan fill that spot at the top? It's that kind of squad, a mouthful, all of them are incredibly talented. Don't know exactly where they are going to fit in," AB said.

“Remember, Ishan will be a backup wicketkeeper, and Jaiswal is not a wicketkeeper. I think it was a difficult decision and definitely not easy. It was probably between Jaiswal and Abhishek, and Abhishek’s stats speak for themselves. They felt they had to make space for a wicketkeeper batter, so I don’t know what else to say about that. You need two wicketkeepers in a World Cup; that’s where he missed out,” de Villiers stated.