If one was to pick one player in the Indian team, who would have the most pressure on himself this T20 World Cup, it has to be Hardik Pandya. Not just his performance will be key to India’s chances of lifting the trophy, but then nothing has been going right for him in the last 2-3 months.
Difficult Times for Hardik Pandya
On professional front, the MI fans never supported the decision of removing Rohit Sharma from captaincy, and giving Pandya the responsibility. Then he was booed all over the country, in stadiums, and outside of it too. MI finished last in the points table as his own performance was forgettable too. In 14 matches he scored only 216 runs at an average of 18, and a strike rate of 143. Then with the ball, he had only 11 wickets, at an economy of 10.75.
On personal front, it seemed like his relationship with India skipper Rohit Sharma was soured. And now, people had started raising the questions on his marriage with Natasa Stankovic as well. But then, Hardik Pandya showed, he is one of the toughest characters in the team.
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In the T20 World Cup warm-up match, he was clinical with the bat and scored 40 from 23, slamming four sixes. That just shows he’s finally back in form. He contributed with the ball as well and returned with figures of 1/30. Talking about the difficult phase of his life after the match, he said, “Eventually, I believe, you have to stay in the battle. Sometimes life puts you in situations where things are tough, but I believe that if you leave the game or the field, the battle that is, you won’t get what you want from your sport, or the results you are looking for.
Pandya Says, He Will Bounce Back
“So, yeah, it has been difficult, but at the same time, I have been process-driven, I have tried to follow the same routines I used to follow earlier,” he said on Star Sports. “At the same time these things happen; there are good times and bad times, these are phases that come and go. That is fine. I have gone through these phases many times and I will come out of it as well,” Hardik added.
Hardik went on to also highlight that success doesn’t get to his head, and even failures don’t affect him much. “I don’t take my successes too seriously. Whatever I have done well, I have forgotten about them immediately and moved forward. Same with difficult times,” he said. “I don’t run away from it. I face everything with [my] chin up. As they say, this too shall pass. So coming out [of these phases] is simple: just play the sport, accept that [you need to] maybe get better at your skillset, keep working hard – hard work never goes to waste – and keep smiling.”
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