Shortly after a caffeine-fueled controversy Karan Johar show, and when he allowed himself to be dragged into training, Hardik Pandya told his childhood coach Jitendra Singh in Vadodara: “Coach, you won’t hear anything negative about me after this”.
Coach Jitubhai told this newspaper on the afternoon of the big IPL final, “He kept that word, his father would have been very proud today.”
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on sparkling a few hours later Narendra Modi The stadium, which mostly had over a lakh supporters of the Gujarat Titan, gave Hardik a famous victory for GT as he chased down 131 with seven wickets in hand. Hardik had picked the most important game of the tournament to make a crucial point – he just couldn’t put down his quota of 4 overs, he still had the sting of deactivating the entire batting line-up. His victims for the day were Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer Rajasthan Royals’ riot, brain and blast. And after a few early wickets, will chase calmly to drive home the point with a responsible 34.
For some time in his career, Pandya seemed like he yearned for attention, without knowing what it was in him that he wanted everyone to see. As a result, they got attention but not the engagement. But in recent times, he has made it clear to himself and everyone that he wants to focus on his cricket – and now he has hooked everyone.
When the Baroda boy first hit the international stage, fans wished him the pace all-rounder that India were longing for Kapil Dev. In this IPL, Hardik showed that at least in the shortest format of the game, he could win games with both bat and ball and be an inspirational leader like Kapil. Post the auction, who would have thought that Hardik could lead the way in his debut season.
Jeetubhai remembers that he first tried to introduce captaincy to Hardik after the second season of the IPL. “I made him the captain of the Reliance team. I told him that now is the time to start developing that aspect.” What happened? Laughs the coach. “Hardik wasn’t very keen then. ‘Sir, I don’t want all this right now. But I want to pay attention. So I let that be, but I just wanted that thought to play in the background.”
5⃣0⃣ Run Stand! I
solid half-century partnership between @gujarat_titans captain Reply to @Team_Twitter And @shubmangil, I
Follow the final ️ https://t.co/8QjB0b5UX7 #TATAIPL , #gtvrr pic.twitter.com/C5fzlzHFPY
– Indian Premier League (@IPL) 29 May 2022
When did you turn? “When they are young, sometimes they feel that captaincy is too much responsibility or they feel that it is the boss and all that coolness. At some point, he felt it came naturally to him as it was about decision making, cricketing thinking, strategy and supporting fellow players to be themselves.
“He has made fun of the way he has gone through, and the way other people have seen him, he knows what to do with other players like him. He knows how to fend for himself. Giving support can be a very powerful thing,” Koch says. “I am not surprised that he has supported David Miller the way he has.”
The coach identifies three recent incidents that have made Hardik mature rapidly. “The Karan Johar episode, marriage and fatherhood, and the death of his father last year. Each has its own effect, some he feels, some unconscious, but I think all three have matured him. He didn’t want to feel negative again after that television show, realized he wanted a stable happy family after marriage, and the death of his father, who he was very close to, matured him to become an adult. Will happen. in a variety of ways. That old bachchan (childishness) has changed.”
The people behind the “Dream Big” series advertising for a fantasy game cottoned on to that inherent trait in Hardik that matches public perception, and played it. where all the other stars in that series, from Rohit Sharma To Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant To Ravichandran AshwinPlaying below, while choosing openly humility in tracking his rise through the help of one person, Hardik’s script runs bolder: he talks to himself, talks how to even the other person.” Top Ka Player Hai”.
Jeetubhai, who has known Hardik since childhood, smiles when that image comes up. “Let me put it this way. He’s like a coconut, tough on the outside, very soft on the inside. A passionate family man who likes to be cool! I find that combination cute and nice!”
good listener
This takes one to Hardik’s other side. During his captaincy stint, he has talked about how bowling coach Ashish Nehra and he are like two peas in a pod in matters of cricket. Nehra has often been seen giving advice on changes in bowling from the side during games. ‘Give Rashid one more over’, ‘get a special fast bowler now’. Hardik has not only taken note of this but has actively sought and taken such advice.
“He has no ego in that sense. Ad one thing, real hearty another. He has always been a good listener, he has always followed good advice, he can do his job in the end but always listens to those Whom he trusts. And he trusts Nehra a lot. He is not a fool to say ‘I know everything, I will do it my way or what will people think?’ He knows and values good suggestions.” Jitubhai says. “As I said, she’s actually a coconut.”
Some journalists who were at the Wankhede Stadium during the Mumbai Indians training session a few years back can attest to this. Something had happened, didn’t know what happened, but suddenly Hardik was distraught. then MI head coach Ricky Ponting Came to the fore, patted him on the back, spent a lot of time consoling, then some other senior players also came forward.
4⃣ over
1⃣7 run
3⃣ wicketsLeading from the Front, Ft. @gujarat_titans captain Reply to @Team_Twitter, I #TATAIPL , #gtvrr
look at that wicket https://t.co/0irYNu9IpW
– Indian Premier League (@IPL) 29 May 2022
After a while, Hardik woke up, wiped his tears, and finally shrugged off whatever was bothering him, slipped on the sunglasses, took a look at the media group, and resumed his cool-cat walk. Did it There he was, in public view, transcending a soft personal moment with poise.
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Which brings one to his bowling, which was one of the reasons why he could not make it to the Indian team in recent times as he was not doing much after the injury. The coach remembers a season earlier this year when there was a setback.
“One day, something told me to him that ‘Okay, now I’m going to bat against your bowling.’ He assumed he wouldn’t bowl a bouncer. I think he thought he could settle me easily. I decided to take him, basically move the bat around and luckily connected on several occasions. That minute But I was getting angry! Suddenly, he threw a bouncer and he shook me. I hit again, he threw another bouncer and I told him ‘Hey! You told me you wouldn’t throw any bouncers; just because you hit Are you not able to take it?! I just wanted to show that you need to work harder on the bowling. The job is not done yet.’ He got it. Recently, he was showing me that video of that net session and we laughed.”
turn the corner
The next day in January was the famous kite festival Uttarayan. Everything comes to a standstill, thousands of Gujarati neck storks gaze at the colorful kites. “I had booked a badminton court for us to play. Just to get back the competitive juice and enjoyment of the game. I wanted him to sweat. It freed itself, we realized (he realized) that he is a player and that is what he was born to do. No chat show.
“I saw that he was upset by what happened. I know him well. He’s a very emotional guy. Don’t go by his dress and chains and the style icon he appears to be. The kid is (he’s a kid) and Very pure at heart.”
When Jitendra Singh arrived at Hardik’s house at 7.30 am after the Karan Johar controversy, when he was sent back from Australia, he found his old ward sitting on the couch with his sunglasses on. “He didn’t sleep all night, did he?” The coach asked the other person in the room. “Tension nahi lena hai (Don’t take stress). You will be back to play for India very soon. Jo ho gaya, woh ho gaya (what has happened is done), there is no use worrying about it .Come to Reliance Stadium tomorrow. Smile now.” Once ridiculed, laughed at, dropped from the team, Hardik made a remarkable comeback.
“Throughout my life, too many people have counted on me and put a question mark. The same thing about auctions, or retention, or even my captaincy. Not answering the best way to answer Hardik says in the GT video. “Those who have said something, I don’t have to ask them to take it back. I think they themselves have taken it back.”