Out of favour India fast bowler Munaf Patel has showered praise on India’s all-rounder Hardik Pandya for his outstanding performance in the ongoing ODI series against Australia.
Munaf patel said that earlier when he played with Hardik in the Baroda Ranji team and stated that the youngster used to treat everything as a challenge and that’s the attitude which has led to Pandya’s rapid rise in a fairly short period.
No doubt, Hardik has very humble background. As per media reports, it is said that Hardik’s family’s financial condition was never good till he made his entry into Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2015 for Mumbai Indians (MI). His family shifted from Surat to Baroda just for the sake of Hardik and his brother Krunal’s cricket training. In his cricket academy in Baroda, Former Indian cricketer Kiran More did not charge any fee from Hardik and his brother Krunal for first three years.
After a high raise in pandya’s career, his former coach Kiran More swear by Hardik Pandya’s diligence and ambition.
“Look at the way the ball travels when he hits it. I can only recall Virender Sehwag. He had such kind of gift. They are God-gifted players, everyone can’t have such bat swing,” More says.
In Indore, he was promoted to No.4 after Rohit Sharma (71) and Ajinkya Rahane (70) had notched up a magnificent 139-run stand for the opening wicket. Pandya’s promotion was seen as a move to tackle spin in the middle overs.
After that, the simplicity of pandya’s shown in the press conference and show that there is no pressure on him after changing his position from 7th to 4th. Pandya said, “It does not make any difference where I bat. Rather than seeing this as a challenge, I see this as an opportunity to do something nice for the team. When I was told I was going to go out to bat next, I was happy. This is the first time I played so many balls, so it was great.”
With his consistent performances, Pandya is expected to carry the weight of expectations like other star players of the team. However, the all-rounder says he does not think that way.