Hardik Pandya also spoke on his IPL journey with Mumbai Indians and his growth as a player.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya was not among the four retained players by Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of IPL 2022 auction. The IPL's new team from Ahmedabad picked Hardik in the draft and named him their captain.
Ahmedabad paid Rs 15 crore for Hardik, Rs 15 crore for Rashid Khan, and Rs 8 crore for Shubman Gill. The Gujarat-born is looking forward to playing for his home team.
"To be very honest I was very excited when I got to know I will be playing for my state. It is my home state where I was born and brought up. It is going to be an exciting and new opportunity for me because I have always played as a player who wanted to take up a lot of responsibility and ownership of things when I do things and now when I have got the opportunity, I want to create some nice culture where all the players get the equal opportunity-- one for all and all for one," said Hardik while speaking to ANI.
"It is a new pamphlet, a new legacy for us. Obviously I am very lucky for having played in Mumbai Indians where I learnt a lot from being a new kid coming to the IPL to now getting an opportunity to lead a team. It has been a dream for me and I am grateful for all the opportunities and chances given by the people," he added.
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The 28-year-old said it has been a beautiful journey to reach here and he is grateful for all the success. Hardik admitted that in 2015 he had not thought of reaching at the level where a franchise would trust him to appoint as captain.
"The feeling is surreal to be honest. I have never imagined as I have said multiple times. If I look at 2015 what Hardik was and what Hardik has been now. It has been a journey where I never would have told people that this would have ever happened.
"As a player, it has been a learning curve in everything in my life. Playing and learning new things from all the senior players and becoming a senior player to a guy to whom people come and started asking questions and now getting a new role.
"It has been a beautiful journey and I am very grateful for everything I have got and the journey does not stop now, it continues. It is a new phase and new turn to the life which I am very excited about," he further added.
Hardik started his IPL journey with Mumbai Indians and he will be playing against them for the first time in the upcoming season. He said a lot of things in his life changed while playing for MI and he will miss the franchise, however his focus is now on the new role with Ahmedabad.
"First I will say not just him but just as a franchise point of view and players point of view it was a tremendous journey for me. I mean a lot of things but everything I have got through Mumbai Indians. I have played India through Mumbai Indians. A lot of things in my life has changed playing for Mumbai. Franchise-wise, I have been very grateful to every guy who was there to contribute or to help me to get better as a cricketer and yes I will miss it but now a new role is there and as they say, the show must go on." he said.
The all-rounder hasn't been at his best when it comes to fitness, and it stopped him from bowling regularly. Team India were very careful in using him as a bowler in the 2021 T20 World Cup. But currently, his fitness has improved and he might return with full-time bowling option.
"Just getting fitter, healthier and looking after all the parts which I need to work at or look after, in a very nice space right now. Training hard, not taking anything forward, taking day-by-day and focusing on a lot of new things which is a nice thing, getting up early doing two sessions in a day. It is nice and healthy," he said.
(With ANI Inputs)