Hardik Pandya: From playing with borrowed kit to becoming India's vice-captain; know the inspiring journey of star all-rounder ahead of T20 World Cup 2024

Apart from his astonishing batting and bowling in T20 cricket, Hardik Pandya is also famous for his lavish and stylish lifestyle outside the cricketing field. The star all-rounder overcame all obstacles in his life with solid determination and when he came in front of everyone in the cricket field, he always kept moving forward. This is the reason why he was also chosen as the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team for the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup 2024. When Hardik started his career, his days were full of financial crunch and due to the closure of his father's business, he had to play with borrowed kit and eat Maggi for meals. But let's take a look at how this promising player rose above all adversities to become the vice-captain of Team India and then the captain when needed.

Father left business and hometown for sons

Hardik Pandya was born on 11 October 1993 in Surat, Gujarat. His father Himanshu Pandya used to do finance business in Surat but he shifted to Baroda with his two sons (Hardik and Krunal) after closing it in the year 1998. It was from here that the journey of both brothers to become Indian cricketers started. Hardik Pandya had to face many financial problems in the beginning due to the closure of his father's business. Hardik's father used to take both the brothers to the ground to show them cricket from where they decided to become cricketers.

Hardik used to play cricket by eating only Maggi

Hardik's father not only closed his business in Surat and moved to Baroda to make him a cricketer, but also supported both brothers at every step. But the financial crisis always came in the way of Hardik. Recalling this, Hardik had said during an interview that during his cricket journey, he also saw such days when he used to spend the day eating only Maggi noodles for breakfast and dinner. Not only this, he used to play cricket by borrowing kits and bats from other players.

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Started as a leg spinner

Hardik Pandya was initially a legspinner and was not much interested in studies. After the ninth class, Hardik no longer had a bag of books, instead a cricket bat replaced it. He was initially a leg spinner but one day when there were no fast bowlers in the team, Hardik took five wickets while bowling fast. Since then, Hardik emerged as a fast-bowling all-rounder.

Mumbai Indians changed life

Hardik Pandya is a T20 specialist and his name became famous in his city due to his big shots and excellent fast bowling and in the year 2013, he made his debut in domestic cricket through a T20 match against Mumbai. After this, Hardik did not look back and the turning point of his life was the selection in Mumbai Indians, one of the most successful franchises of IPL. After joining the Mumbai team for the first time in the year 2015, he also made his way to Team India.

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From Mumbai Indians to Team India

Fast bowling all-rounder Hardik, who created a stir for Mumbai Indians, made his debut for India in 2016 against Australia in Adelaide. Hardik did not bat in this match but in bowling, he took two wickets for 37 runs in three overs and made an important contribution to the victory of Team India. Seeing his bowling spell in the debut match, everyone called Hardik the future star of India and also started comparing him with Kapil Dev. Hardik Pandya has played 92 T20 International matches for India so far and has 1348 runs in his name while also taking 73 wickets. On the basis of Hardik's strong performance, he has been chosen as the vice-captain of Team India for the T20 World Cup 2024. He has also captained India in T20 matches in some matches and made India win all the matches of the three-match T20 series against Ireland.

Hardik's performance in T20 World Cup

If we look at Hardik Pandya's performance in the T20 World Cups, he has played three T20 World Cups for India since 2016. In which Hardik Pandya has 213 runs in front of his name in 16 matches at an average of 23.66. Along with this, he has also taken 13 wickets. Whereas Hardik's spell of three wickets for 30 runs has been his best so far. Hardik has played 258 T20 matches in his career so far and has 4641 runs while also taking 163 wickets. His current target will be to end India's ICC trophy drought and bring home the T20 World Cup glory once again.

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