Hardik Pandya had a tough Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season as captain and player of Mumbai Indians (MI). The all-rounder was traded from Gujarat Titans and replaced Rohit Sharma as captain of MI for the 2024 season.
Pandya, upon becoming captain, faced backlash from the fans on social media and even during MI’s matches which affected his performance as both captain and player. His team finished at the 10th spot on the points table and he only scored 216 runs in 14 matches at an average of just 18 and picked up just 11 wickets at an average of 35.18.
Despite his not-so-good performances in the IPL, Pandya received support from players all over the world including Riyan Parag who has not been selected in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2024.
Parag, talking on a podcast, revealed that the comparison between him and Pandya is irrelevant, "I am nowhere near Hardik Pandya, first of all. Hardik has done insane things for our country. People forget that in a jiffy. Hardik has won you games in the World Cup and has won you trophies, so let's not even compare me and Hardik."
Parag played for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2024 and after the Wankhede game where RR defeated MI, Parag was seen talking with Pandya. When asked about what the two discussed, Parag detailed that he wanted to know how Pandya tackles the scrutiny and critics.
"All I was talking with him [Hardik] was how he was dealing with it [scrutiny], how I should be dealing with it if I was in a similar situation and basic cricket in general. That's all I was talking about. He is one of the best cricketers in the world right now."
Fortunately for India, Pandya is slowly gathering his form as he steered the team towards a victory in the warm-up game against Bangladesh on Saturday at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York he scored 40 runs off 23 balls and picked one wicket for 30 runs.
Pandya will have a lot of chances to shine in the World Cup with their first match against Ireland on June 5. Then the team will play against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9, the USA on June 12 and Canada on June 15 in the group stage of the tournament.
- Hardik Pandya
