India’s ace all-rounder Hardik Pandya on Monday (October 17) expressed his desire to be highly exceptional in fielding. In fact, his goal for the remainder of the year is to take a catch that would go down as one of his best.

"God has been kind to me, my fitness has gone up. I am able to spend a lot of time on my fielding with our coach (T Dillip). I was always natural as a fielder, but I want to be exceptional. Now, I am able to spend some time on my skills and get those difficult catches. Hardik that I knew, used to dive around and stop the balls. My goal this year is to grab a catch that could go down as one of my best ever," said Pandya in a video posted on bcci.tv.

While Team India’s T20 World Cup 2022 campaign will begin next week, they have arrived in Australia in the first week of October itself.

Hardik said spending so much time Down Under before the T20 World Cup has helped them acclimatize to the conditions.

Talking about his 27-run knock in the warm-up fixture against Western Australia, Hardik Pandya said he was satisfied with his performance.

"It was not about the runs, but rather about my approach towards the game and what the situation was like and how I adapted to it. I played 21 balls with the middle of the bat. It was positive from a practice game point of view," he added.

Talking about batting in Australian conditions, Pandya said it is about playing that one innings that can help players get adapted to the conditions.

"If you can get that early in the season, early in the tournament, you can score a lot of runs after getting used to conditions. Also as a fast bowler, you can exploit the conditions after adapting to it," he added.

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian side won its first World Cup warm-up fixture against Australia by 6 runs at the Gabba on October 17. The Men in Blue will face New Zealand in their second and final warm-up match on October 19.

In the Super 12 stage, India are part of Group 2 alongside Pakistan, South Africa, and Bangladesh while two teams will join them from the qualifiers. They will begin their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic MCG on October 23.

(With ANI inputs)