Indian pace bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya is blooming steadily in the international cricket arena. In the ongoing third Test of the five-match Test series between the hosts England and the visitors India at Trent Bridge (Nottingham), he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in international cricket and later he scored a brilliant half-century.
However, here we are talking something different about Hardik Pandya. Hardik Pandya, who has many similar personalities with the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, did something very similar like Virat Kohli that surprised his coach.
Once during a Teachers’ Day, Virat Kohli wished his cricketing guru or coach Rajkumar Sharma by gifting a red Honda City car.
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Similarly, Hardik Pandya gifted a special brand new car to his coach Jitendra Singh, affectionately calls Jeetu bhai, after returning from his maiden international cricket tour in Australia where he had played three T20Is.
Jitendra recalled the memory according to PTI, “Hardik had come to meet me after the Australia tour for which he was selected for the first time in India squad. He straight away took me to a car showroom, where he and Krunal (elder brother) gifted me a car.”
Pandya brothers’ father Himanshu Pandya reveals that the former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Kiran More approached Hardik to join his cricket academy where the little boy used to accompany his elder brother Krunal Pandya.
Pandya brothers’ father told PTI, “I am originally from Surat. But since the cricket facility was better in Baroda, I decided to shift with my family as we were then thinking about Krunal’s cricket. Krunal started the training under Kiran More and seven-year-old Hardik used to accompany him at the academy. Kiran Sir (More) asked him to come to his academy and didn’t even charge my boys any coaching fee.”
Their father has also revealed that Hardik was a leg-spinner at the early stage before the former Karnataka seamer Sanath Kumar realised his pace bowling ability at the nets.
Telling about that story, Himanshu Pandya said, “He was a leg spinner till the age of 18. However Baroda’s coach at that time was Sanath sir (former Karnataka seamer Sanath Kumar). He once told Hardik to bowl at the nets and he clocked around 130 kmph. Sanath sir told him to bowl another delivery and he was even quicker. Sir then told him to pursue fast bowling.”
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However, soon, Himanshu has also appreciated Jitendra’s hard effort to strengthen his son’s bowling ability.
He said, “However Jitendra also worked a lot with my son. He would monitor his bowling for hours at the nets.”
However, Jitendra has told a little different story where the leg-spinner Hardik started to bowl pace accidentally and earned a good impression on Sanath Kumar.
Jitendra recalled, “Once during an U-19 match, I had only one fast bowler in the side as others were playing for Baroda Ranji and U-23 tournaments. Hardik was a leg-spinner. I asked Hardik to bowl with an aim to get him take the shine off new ball. And Hardik took five wickets in an innings. He was more effective than the genuine fast bowler, who was bowling from the other end. Sanath Kumar sir also saw Hardik during the same time and supported his endeavour to bowl quick.
“In the same season, Hardik was given an opportunity to play for Baroda in T20s, where he performed well and from then he never looked back.”
