Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been out of the game for a long time, first due to his recurring back issues, but the most famous reason for his ouster was his controversial appearance on Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee with Karan along with KL Rahul.
Both cricketers made crass and sexist remarks on the TV show, but Hardik’s statements hurt a raw nerve with many fans, and BCCI had to suspend both of them after their appearance in January 2019. This ruled them both out of the ODI series in Australia that year.
Now in a chat with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz, Hardik said he accepted his mistakes and has become a better person.
“When that happened, I said to myself let’s just accept it and try to correct the mistake. If I would have not accepted that mistake, that part would have still been in me. That phase does not bother me anymore because my family has accepted it,” Hardik said.
Talking about how it affected his family, Pandya said, “I am a family guy. Without family, I am no one. My family is my backbone. The Hardik Pandya you are seeing right now is because of the people behind the scenes, looking after me. They make sure that I am mentally stable and I stay happy.”
“My family got abused. My father gave an interview post the incident and people made a mockery of it. What hurt me the most was my action caused my family problems, and that’s not acceptable,” Hardik added.
The Baroda all-rounder recently shared the good news of welcoming a new family member with wife Natasa Stankovic, with whom he got engaged in January this year.
Here is the video:
