Picture Credit: Twitter
2022 IPL champions Gujarat Titans’ captain Hardik Pandya has announced his return to the Indian team. While speaking in a video uploaded on the Titans’ Twitter account, Hardik talked about how he is getting ready to play for the national team and recreate the success he had with his franchise.
“The old Hardik will be back. Now the fans are back, it's time for me to make comeback. A lot of matches are going to be played and I'm looking forward to it. What I did for my franchise, I will also make sure that I can also do the same for my country," Hardik said.
He also thanked the Board of Cricket Control in India for their support during the time of his injury. “Lot of people don't know that I took off; It was my decision. A lot of misconception is that I was dropped. You get dropped when you are available. Thankful to the BCCI as they allowed me to take long breaks and did not even force me to come back,” he added.
The India all-rounder has had an excellent season scoring 487 runs in 15 matches with an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.27. While picking up eight wickets at an average of 27.75 and an economy of 7.28 with the best figures of three wickets while giving away 17 runs in the final.
The moment Hardik got captaincy, he started scoring 70, 80s as well: Gavaskar
Former Indian player Sunil Gavaskar also praised Pandya for his resurgence after recovering from injury. While talking on the Star Sports post-game show, Gavaskar said, “The selection committee will be delighted with the way he has come through. Everyone had seen him batting but nobody had seen him bowl. Now he is coming and bowling four overs sometimes or three overs on the trot which shows that he is 100 per cent fit.”
“But yes he has got to be managed well. When you have a back injury as serious as that where you have a surgery, you got to be managed. But the fact that he is coming and bowling at over 140, which means he was letting it rip,” Gavaskar continued.
“Also the shot selection he showed as a batter. He wasn't throwing his bat at just about everything. It was absolutely terrific. In this game, you tend to look for six and get out but generally with captaincy, just like it did with Rohit Sharma, the short selection became better. Rohit, too like Hardik was brilliant, but the moment he got the captaincy, he started scoring 70, 80, 100s as well,” he added.