India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been going through a rough patch in his career for a long time now, revealed how he has learned a lot from two-time world cup winning captain MS Dhoni. Hardik Pandya shares a great bond with MS Dhoni, in fact, it was under the leadership of MS, he made his international debut back in January 2016.
Recently, in an interview with popular sports journalist Boria Majumdar, Hardik Pandya revealed how he found it strange why Dhoni wasn’t instructing him how to bowl however later on he realized it was the former captain’s way of letting him learn from his own mistakes
He said: “Obviously, I have learned a lot from everyone, especially Mahi bhai. When I went there I was a raw material. They way he groomed me, he wanted me to make my own mistakes and learn,”
For the unversed, when Hardik made his debut for the Indian cricket team during a T20I against Australia in Adelaide, he had suffered from an expensive first over to finish with 2/37 from his four overs.
At that moment, he thought that MS Dhoni will come to his rescue and help him, however, he was left shocked with the turn of events. He revealed:
“Not many people know that in first-class cricket, you generally have a senior player who guides you in all the matches,” Pandya said. “I think 99.9 per cent of those who have come up to the Indian team have been from that sort of culture.”
He continued, “When I came there (India debut), I was like MS Dhoni is there, so everything will be looked after. (But) I was like why Mahi bhai is not saying a lot, not telling me where to bowl. But later on, I realised that he actually wanted me to learn on my own so that I can survive. That point of time I didn’t realise because I was on back foot.”
Pandya also revealed how he thought his international career is over after having leaked 19 runs in his first over itself but then MS Dhoni called him and everything changed. He said:
“In my debut, I gave 24-25 runs (19 runs) and post that I genuinely thought this is my first and last game (for India). But then he (Dhoni) called me for a second over. I was fielding at extra cover and looked behind before confirming if it’s (actually) me (he was asking for).
“He (Dhoni) never showed that he’s there. He wanted me to be rough, to be learning everything on my own but I knew he was always standing behind me,”
