India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been hailed as a special player ever since his emergence in the IPL 2015. He was fast-tracked into the Indian team in 2016 and looked destined to fulfilling the gap of a full-fledged pace bowling all-rounder left by Kapil Dev in the Indian team.
He did amazingly well for India in all three formats, scoring a Test century and taking a Test fifer. But then in the 2018 Asia Cup, everything came crumbling down as he suffered a serious back injury which led to him having surgery in London and months of rehab.
Pandya’s back issues went away for a while and he was back bowling and batting in the 2019 World Cup, but in 2020 and 2021, his back issues flared again and he was playing as a pure batter.
The lack of bowling and providing his team those crucial overs and in the aftermath of the T20 World Cup 2021, where Indian team management was criticized for playing Pandya in the XI just as a batter, led to him taking an extended break from cricket.
He returned in the form in the IPL 2022 where he led the Gujarat Titans to the title and was back to bowling at his full tilt. Since then, he has starred with both bat and bowl for India in T20Is but is yet to be tested fully in ODIs and Tests.
Ahead of India’s T20 World Cup 2022 clash against Pakistan in MCG on October 22, the 29-year-old opened up about the important role played by his family in his recovery process from back issues and gaining full fitness.
“It has to do a lot with helping myself to go back to the basics and approaching everything on a positive note. Because of that I have got peace in my life looking at the brighter side always. I know I will have good days and bad days but the positivity comes from the hard work that I put in, which then gives me the self-belief and confidence to give it everything. And with the support of my family to always have my back, I feel a sense of complete focus and positivity around me,” he told RISE Worldwide.
The allrounder said that he has had a lot of time to concentrate on himself and focus on parts of his journey that he had previously forgotten. While Pandya has always worked doubly hard to get fitter, he credited his family, wife Natasa, son Agastya and brother Krunal for allowing him to go one step further during the last year or so.
“This time the difference was that my family played a big role in terms of letting me be myself. More than anything, let me have my own time to realize what exactly I want for myself. The credit goes to Natasha, Agastya, Krunal – everyone kind of allowed me to maintain my routine and made sure [to realize] that you know what, Hardik right now should focus on himself and he should keep himself as a priority.
And because of that, I was able to understand a lot of things which I had kind of forgotten over the years while playing because there are certain things you don’t write down, it just happens,” he added.
(PTI inputs)
