In an exclusive interview with Indian Express, Indian player Ishan Kishan recently recalled all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s words before the world cup.
Throwing light on Hardik Pandya’s words Ishan Kishan said, ‘I had a gut feeling that he (Pandya) was saving it all for the World Cup. I will never forget his words: ‘Ek baar performance aa jaaye fir jo aaj gaali de rahe wahi taaliyaan bajayenge. This is what he told me when I was also going through a really tough time. He said, ‘let people talk, we will do our best and give 100 percent to the game we love.’
Later during the course of the interview, Ishan also emphasized that Pandya never complained about fans’ reaction and instead, he took this in his stride.
Speaking about his reaction, Ishan said, ‘I never heard him cribbing ki yaar, aisa kyun ho raha hai mere saath. He was calm about it, took it in a very sporting manner, and just focused on the game.’
Furthermore, he also remembered the times when Hardik calmly reacted to trolling and revealed,
‘I remember Hardik bhai saying once during the IPL, ‘jo haath mey nahi hai uske baare mey kya sochna, log bol rahe hai kyu bol rahe, wo sab control nahi kar sakte…the same bunch that has criticised me will celebrate me in the future and I just have to take it in a very sporting manner.’
While remembering their time together, Ishan Kishan also claimed, that Hardik only cared about T20 world cup and was fully dedicated to his training. Moreover, he didn’t compromise with his work ethic during that time.
‘He was heartbroken after he got injured during the ODI World Cup. He was really focused on the T20 World Cup. Although he never said it, the intensity with which he used to train and practise had ‘tu dekh mai karta hun’ (you see what I will do) written all over it. I’ve trained with him. He has never compromised with his work ethic, and it showed during the World Cup’
In conclusion, Ishan Kishan asserted, that Hardik Pandya did not deserve tough time from fans that much.
Meanwhile in the T20 World Cup final, Hardik Pandya played a crucial role in making lift the world cup trophy after 11 years.
With both Bat and Ball, Pandya performed tremendously well. With Bat, he scored 144 runs from 6 innings at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151.57. In addition, he also has a half-century in his name.
While with the ball, the 30-year-old man picked up wickets of dangerous players like Heinrich Klaasen (52 off 27) and David Miller (21 off 17). Thus, defending 16 runs of the final over.
