Hardik Pandya has already made a place for himself in the Indian team setup in a short span of time. He is very useful for all formats for his team, while experts call him the next big thing in Indian cricket.

He recently recalled his first International appearance in a chat show of ‘Breakfast with Champions’ hosted by Gaurav Kapoor. Pandya revealed that then skipper of India MS Dhoni scolded him after his maiden international wicket. Notably, he bowled 5 wides in his first over of that match and leaked 21 runs too.

Baroda all-rounder admitted “It was nightmare, giving 21 runs in my first international over. First time in my life I was blank, I didn’t know what to do. But Mahi bhai being a legend said ‘aaja doosra over daal’ (come, bowl another over). I went for 6 runs in the first ball and it was like 1.1 overs and I went for 28 runs. But after that, I gave only 7-8 runs in two overs and took two wickets. He (Dhoni) didn’t say anything but I still remember in the post-match press conference, he said ‘I knew that after the first over, he will be a better bowler for sure’.”

The swashbuckling all-rounder further described his reaction over the first wicket as ‘over-excited’. “After getting Lynn out, I still remember I got over-excited. Mahi bhai then said ‘you are doing this thing for the last time because you will get banned plus the team will lose a player. So we don’t want that’. I was like ‘ya sorry’. I might be the first player to get ICC Code of Conduct warning in the first international game. I just thought after that ‘for a couple of slangs, I won’t lose money, it’s my hard earned money,” quoted Pandya.

The 23-year-old is missing the India Sri Lanka Test series after asking for a rest to BCCI. However, he will be seen in the limit over series, scheduled to commence from December 10 in Dharamshala.