Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s journey has been nothing short of a battlefield, as he opened up about his remarkable comeback following a disastrous Mumbai Indians return in the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) ahead of the upcoming season.
Last year, Hardik Pandya faced one of the toughest phases of his career, where survival was more important than winning. However, the Indian all-rounder refused to give up, as he knew that the game would help him overcome the challenges.
Hardik Pandya reveals how he turned his career around in just months
After replacing Rohit Sharma as the Mumbai Indians’ captain, Hardik faced a lot of boos and social media trolling, which significantly impacted him as he failed to deliver both as captain and as the all-rounder. The Mumbai Indians finished the IPL 2024 at the bottom of the points table.
However, Hardik kept pushing forward despite not being sure when things would change, and then his hard work paid off, and even the star all-rounder admitted that winning the T20 World Cup 2024 and then the love from the fans completely transformed his journey.
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It’s always about when you don’t leave the battlefield: Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya said on Star Sports, “It’s always about when you don’t leave the battlefield. For me, it was about surviving, maybe not winning. That year was a year where for the longest time I had to hold my ground, not leave the battlefield, which was the ground.”
He further explained, “I realized how everything was panning out, that cricket is something that is going to be my best friend, and he’s going to get me out of it. Yeah, I kept pushing and kept pushing, and I think when all the hard work and everything kind of came, I don’t think I wouldn’t be able to write a script, which it turned out to be in my life.
You know, those six months of my phase where we won the T20 World Cup and came back and got the kind of love we got, I think it was a completely 360 turnaround for me.”
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Cricket brought me out of trouble: Hardik Pandya
For Pandya, persistence, honesty, and hard work were the keys, but he never knew when the tide would shift, but destiny had its own plans, and things changed drastically within two and a half months. He will soon be seen in action in the upcoming IPL 2025, starting on March 22.
However, Hardik will miss the Mumbai Indians’ first game in the upcoming IPL 2025 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on March 23 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Chennai. The season opener will be played on March 22 between RCB and KKR at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Pandya signed off by saying, “I think cricket was something that I knew that if I was persistent, if I was honest to my work, if I was really, you know, hardworking, I think I’ll be able to come out of this. But when I didn’t know, as I exactly said, it was written in the script by the God, where it turned out to be two and a half months.”
