The remaking of Hardik Pandya

September 15, 2016. India A were unravelling against Australia A in Brisbane. Kane Richardson and Jackson Bird were zipping the pink ball around, and the lights hadn't even come on. It wasn't a toss Naman Ojha wanted to lose. He resisted for 52 balls - the longest among the top six - before Bird had him lbw. India A were now 46 for 6.

Hardik Pandya walked out to replace his captain, having had an eventful few months leading up to the match.

After a heady start to his international career that peaked with the World T20, a reality check arrived through a dismal IPL which then led to him being dropped for the tour to Zimbabwe. Pandya wouldn't have even been in Australia if not for injuries and curious, last-minute changes to the A team.

He had done alright as a bowler in the quadrangular one-day series that preceded the four-day games, but the runs were missing. In fact, after he made 0 and 7 batting at No.7 in the first unofficial Test, he was demoted a spot.

Pandya ensured his team survived the night and was the last man out the next afternoon. He had contributed 79 runs to India A's total of 169. The innings convinced Ojha that Pandya ought to be playing with the senior team.

"The pink ball was seaming around under lights. It was a slightly new experience for us, but he dealt it with brilliantly,' Ojha told ESPNcricinfo. "He has all the qualities an international allrounder should have. As soon as he gains more experience, he will become a trump card for India."

The national selectors must have thought so too. They knew India needed a seam-bowling allrounder and, with only eight ODIs in 2016-17 before the Champions Trophy, they needed to find one fast. That performance for the A team in Brisbane put Pandya front and centre.

Pandya made his ODI debut in Dharamsala, clocking over 140 kph and troubling New Zealand with seam and swing. Then he produced an outstanding cameo in Delhi with the match on the line.

India needed 60 to win off 55 balls and had only two wickets in hand. It was a difficult pitch to score rapidly and New Zealand had Tim Southee and Trent Boult bowling intelligently at the death. But with each passing over Pandya kept slicing the target down, playing proper shots. That 36 off 32 balls signaled a marked change in his game because, until then, he was seen as a T20 specialist who hit some lusty blows and squeezed in a few overs in during the middle stages.

An India A team-mate believes Pandya's interactions with Rahul Dravid, the India A coach, has brought about the transformation in his batting.

"He learnt a lot from Dravid not just about batting, but also about staying mentally strong. So long as Pandya remained disciplined nobody had a problem with his happy-go-lucky attitude.

"He showed good work ethic in terms of his training and recovery pattern and diet. When he was out of the team, he focused on becoming physically stronger and that helped keep the negative thoughts away. It also helped that he was out of the team for only two months."

While it is understood both India's captain MS Dhoni and coach Anil Kumble had praised Pandya's efforts which nearly aced a difficult chase in Delhi, they had also reminded the 23-year old about the lessons to be absorbed from that experience.

With 11 runs needed from eight balls - and only Nos. 10 and 11 left - Pandya flat-batted a bouncer from Boult, who had been New Zealand's best bowler, and was caught by the sweeper on the off side. India lost by six runs.

"It will be harsh on him, he could have [taken it to the end] the option is always there," Dhoni said after the match. "You always have to target who are the bowlers you want to hit and in these kinds of situation even the last ball counts. May be if that shot would have gone over point it could have been a boundary and everything would have been different. He is still learning and more often than not he will be alone along with the tail."

With the likes of Kumble and Dravid to guide him, however, Pandya knows, at least off the field, he is never alone.