Dear Hardik Pandya,
This is your birthday. Firstly, a very happy birthday to you and nothing elevates my heart more than saying these words and that too at a juncture where India needs you more than ever.
A year ago, people wrote you off from the very roots saying that you were just a waste of talent and your heydays are behind you. Well, being honest, even me, being one of your craziest fans, I genuinely lacked the heart to counter them.
However, I so dearly hoped that you turned the tide around and kept on praying to the ones who were listening that for one more time, may the same man who punished Australia in their very home came forth.
I would often pick up fights with my friends for calling you a write-off but then Indian media has a weird way of portraying fantasies with so much colours in it, as if you have committed a war crime and the world would not have any of it.
Hardik Pandya, I always knew that there is fire in you and when Gujarat chose you as the captain, it was just the beginning. People said that they are making a mistake. I stood firm that this is going to be the best decision they ever make.
I always knew this that even the biggest of heroes need a bad fall from which they get back up. You needed the fall. So that you knew that the sky is within your grasp and you are just one leap away from surpassing it.
You came back, propelled Gujarat to the title and then was recalled to the Indian team. The rest they say is history.
Well we can save the discussion for numbers on another day, but for now, I am going to say this out aloud. Hardik, you served an example so massive that very few is capable of even thinking about the same.
I know, it’s not easy and the falls are massive but now that you have touched light, you know the darkness and you know your ways around them. I would always keep on screaming for you, Hardik Pandya.
The last time you went to Australia, the hosts had fear in their eyes. You have once again arrived at the same juncture where the world came to a standstill and if truth be told, so did my life. How about we say, let’s rock the world together. Loads of love on your birthday, Hardik Pandya.
Yours sincerely,
A crazy cricket fan.
