Former Indian cricketer and cricket pundit, Sanjay Manjrekar, heaped praise on all-rounder Hardik Pandya for the way he has been performing since making a comeback in the IPL 2022 after a six-month layoff.
Manjrekar claimed that Pandya is now a completely changed guy, and he currently sees a lot of maturity, responsibility, and ambition in the Indian all-rounder. He further credited Gujarat Titans (GT) for showing faith in Pandya when he was struggling with his fitness and turning him into a superstar.
After the T20 World Cup 2021, the all-rounder took a break and worked on his fitness and then made a comeback in the IPL 2022, where he leg-GT to his maiden IPL title and went on to make India's comeback. He has now retained his place as an all-rounder in the Indian cricket team.
Speaking on Sports18's show, Sports Over The Top, Sanjay Manjrekar said: “Absolutely, Hardik Pandya is a completely changed guy. It was a wildcard that the franchise Gujarat Titans played. First of all, picking him as one of their first players, before that his fitness was a problem, his batting was an issue for the earlier franchise.”
The commentator further explained, “Not only did they pick him, and back him as one of their marquee players they gave him the captaincy. Just the way the league turned out for him. Hardik Pandya is a changed man now, there’s a lot of maturity, responsibility and ambition as well.”
He signed off by saying, “I see a sense of ambition coming into him. And once you have that, wanting to grow within Indian Cricket then there’s tremendous motivation. He’s also addressing himself in third person now. Hardik Pandya has arrived.”
