MUMBAI, Sept. 18 -- As it often happens in the lead up to World Cups, teams use other competitions to test out their plans for the big event. And that is something a lot of teams including India are doing at the ongoing T20 Asia Cup. The 2026 World Cup, to be played in India and Sri Lanka, will feature conditions similar to the UAE. Going by their first two matches in Dubai, against the hosts and Pakistan, India's plan is going to be to make best use of their spin attack. Hence everything that is possible will be done to allow the team to field its best spinners, even if it means a pacer has to be sacrificed. India's experiment is largely dependent on the success of Hardik Pandya in the role of their second pace bowler teaming up with Jasprit Bumrah. The all-rounder is India's X-factor. On the basis of his batting prowess alone he can walk into the T20 side with 1812 runs in 116 matches, scored at a strike-rate of 141.67. He lends balance to the side, allowing them to play around with their combination. In the Asia Cup, coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav have decided to sacrifice their most successful T20 bowler, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, and instead bank on Pandya to perform the fifth specialist bowler's role. Against both UAE and Pakistan, Pandya opened the bowling in a six-man attack of three pace options (Bumrah and Shivam being the other two) and three spinners. If India have to play a specialist pacer in Arshdeep, then their ploy to attack with wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy may get compromised. With spin all-rounder Axar Patel key to batting depth, only one of the two spinners will play. As seen against Pakistan, Kuldeep and Chakravarthy are capable of putting the batters in a spin with their variations. They build pressure through economy and wickets and it gives India three genuine match-winners in India's bowling attack along with Bumrah. But is Hardik equipped for the specialist bowler's role? The Asia Cup is not really the ideal sample size to base that strategy on. The level of competition is not the same. Even Pakistan don't have a great batting line-up. Against Asian opponents, his record is impressive. He is at his best against Pakistan with 14 wickets in 8 matches at an economy rate of 7.76; versus Sri Lanka he has 13 wickets in 14 matches (his ER is 7.32); versus Bangladesh he has 7 wickets in 8 matches (ER 8.91). Can Pandya do well against stronger teams? That will be the question he will have to answer at the World Cup. Against Australia he has six wickets in 13 matches at an ER of 9.70; versus England 19 wickets in 20 matches (ER 8.26); versus South Africa 11 wickets in 16 matches (ER 8.58) and versus New Zealand he has 9 wickets in 13 matches (ER 9.24). From his previous record, he is best used as a surprise weapon than as a specialist pacer. In between he will come up with match-turning spells like in the 2024 T20 World Cup final when he picked up three wickets (3-0-20-3) to play a pivotal role in India's victory, but on other days he can be the weak link. That is why the challenge in front of Pandya is to lift his game against the best. A specialist pacer is supposed to bowl the death overs. As skipper of Mumbai Indians, he avoided it last season in the IPL. In his season's final match, the Qualifier against Punjab Kings, his last over of the innings of the two he bowled was the 10th over of the innings in which he went for 17 runs. Post the 10th over, he employed pacers throughout but didn't bring himself on. Bumrah, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar and Reece Topley bowled from 11th until the 19th over in which PBKS completed a chase of 204. Overall in IPL 2025, he used himself sparingly, chipping in with overs as per the situation. Out of 15 matches, he used himself for full four overs in just four games, in five games he bowled just two overs each, in three he just bowled one over each. When India have a strong bowling line-up of Bumrah, Chakravarthy and Kuldeep, you can expect the opposition to target Pandya and Axar Patel for runs while having a cautious approach against the rest. The manner in which Pandya handles the extra pressure of batters taking risks against him will be the key. In Sunday's game against Pakistan, he started with a wicket off the first ball but when he came to bowl the final over of the innings, Shaheen Shah Afridi hammered him for two big sixes. Pandya was the most expensive bowler with an ER of 11.33 in three overs. The rest of the five bowlers used were all below an ER of 7.0. It also makes the role of part-time bowlers, Shivam Dubey (medium pace) and Abhishek Sharma (left-arm spin) crucial. In case Pandya has an off-day, the two can chip in. Against UAE, Dube took 3 for 4 in two overs. In the Pakistan match, Abhishek bowled an over. But in the end, it all boils down to Pandya and few in the team are as inspired by the limelight as much as him....