The flamboyant Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is well aware of the fact that playing Test cricket will have an adverse effect on his injury-ravaged back and says it’s because he understands his “importance” in the white-ball formats. He hasn’t played a Test since September 2018, appearing in a total of 11 five-day matches, but has cemented his place as a big-hitting all-rounder in the ODIs and T20Is.
Pandya has been recovering from the back injury which needed surgery last year. During a chat with Cricbuzz, Hardik said, “After my back surgery, I don’t know, playing Test cricket right now will be a challenge. If I was a Test player and didn’t have the game in white-ball cricket, I could go now and risk my back in Tests but I know my importance in white-ball cricket. It has happened that I played Tests and then didn’t do well in ODIs and T20s.”
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Hardik suffered a back injury first in Asia Cup 2018 during a match against Pakistan. Recalling the day, Pandya said he thought his career was over. However, he made a recovery in the next few months. Touching on the controversy triggered by his misogynistic and exists remarks during a TV show last year, Pandya said he has learned his lessons and moved on.
Pandya acknowledged that a phase in his career when he went “off the board” and tried too hard to fit in based on other people’s opinions of him. Explaining that he said, “In 2016, I had the worst year in IPL. In 2015 I got success, in 2016, because of the way I am, not many people were able to take it. Maybe I went off-board and got so many suggestions. You have to be calm, act with people in a certain manner. In that phase, I learned that it’s better to be myself.”
Hardik said he owes it to his IPL team Mumbai Indians’ coach Ricky Ponting for showing support during the tough phase.
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The all-rounder explained, “In 2015, someone who looked after me the best was Ricky Ponting. I felt like he was a father figure for me. Learnt so much. Ricky taught me situations, mindsets. He used to sit with me before I went into bat. I would sit near boundary rope and call Ricky. So I grasped and learned quickly.”
