Hardik Pandya, the Indian all-rounder has now become one of the loved and admired cricketers. However, not many know that before his life changing stint that he played during IPL 2015, played some domestic cricket for Baroda.
When his IPL career started,Ricky Ponting saw something in Hardik Pandya and he was roped in for his base price of Rs.10lakhs by Mumbai Indians and there has been no turning back. He has been playing in all the three formats of the game. He has been retained by the Mumbai Indians alongwith the skipper, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.
After the PL 2019, Hardik Pandya expressed that Mumbai Indians is like his home. He also went on to say that his International career might have started with MS but his actual career started with Ricky. He said :
“Ricky is someone who has been fantastic. Even the way he backed me. Yes, my international career started with MS. But the actual career which I think that people started noticing me was because of Ricky. He backed me, he saw something in me. You need opportunities, someone who backs you. You need the support which Ricky gave. It made me play freely. I was a different cricketer altogether,”
Praising Ricky for his support and treating him like a brother, Hardik Pandya said :
“I learnt so much. There were things I didn’t understand which he explained to me. More than anything else, such a legend talking to you so normally and treating you like his little brother and a son,”
He added :
“I am still very close with him. He explained to me how things happened at the big circuit and how I needed to play in different situations,”
Isn’t that just so amazing ?
Talking about Hardik Pandya, he will be seen in the last two tests against Australia. He has been away since he injured himself during the Asia Cup 2018.
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