Hardik Himanshu Pandya or as we know him, Hardik Pandya is an Indian cricketer who represents the country in international cricket. On the domestic level, Hardik plays first-class cricket for Baroda. In the Indian Premier League, Hardik featured for Mumbai Indians from 2015-2021 and won 4 IPL titles with them. In 2022, he was signed by Gujarat Titans in the mega auction and was named the captain of the side where he took them to Title victory!
Hardik Pandya plays as an All-Rounder. He bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium. Pandya is widely popular for his aggressive style of batting and his exceptional fielding skills. Pandya loves to take the charge to the bowler. Pandya is known for his swagger both on and off the field.
Hardik Pandy's jersey number is 228. It refers to his score against Vadodara in U-16 domestic cricket. Hardik's career has been affected by injuries. According to experts, it is a result of overexertion.
Hardik Pandya debuted in first-class cricket for Baroda in 2013. In the 2013–14 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Hardik played a vital role in Baroda's victorious campaign. In the 2016 finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Hardik played an unbeaten knock of 86 to guide the Baroda cricket team to a six-wicket win over Vidarbha cricket.
Hardik Pandya began his IPL career in 2015 with Mumbai Indians. His all-round performances with the MI franchise earned him a spot in the Indian national team. Hardik's IPL career has been one of the most impressive ones so far. He is known for scoring quick runs in crucial moments.
In 2017, against RPS, it was the last over in Mumbai Indians’ innings batting first and Hardik Pandya smashed 30 runs in that one against bowler Ashok Dinda, making it a record, although later, Mumbai lost the match.
Hardik Pandya was retained by the Mumbai Indians franchise in the 2018 IPL auction for a whopping amount of Rs. 11 crores.
He scored 1476 runs for them in 7 seasons. In the mega auction the next year, he was signed by Gujarat Titans and was named the captain of the side. Leading from the front, Pandya scored 487 runs in the season and took his team to win the finals!
Also see - Ravindra Jadeja Biography
Hardik Pandya made his Twenty20 International debut for India on 27 January 2016 against the Australian side in Adelaide. Pandya had a horror start to the match as he bowled 5 wides in his first international over and went for 19 runs.
However, he came back in sharply and scalped two wickets by only giving 18 runs in his last 3 overs. In the 2016 Asia Cup’s game against Pakistan, Hardik played tremendously well as he picked up 3 wickets for just 8 runs which helped India restrict the Pakistani innings to a mere 83 runs.
He has been part of India's T20 WC squad in 2016 where he bowled the final over against Bangladesh and defended 2 runs off the final 3 balls. and picking up two crucial wickets at that point in time. India won the match from the jaws of defeat by just a single run, courtesy of Pandya!
His best performance came in the T20 series against England in July 2018. In the final encounter, Pandya took 4 for 38 runs and hit 33 off just 14 deliveries. With this, he achieved the feat of becoming the first Indian cricketer to score more than 30 runs and take 4 wickets in T20Is. He got a place in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup and he was expected to go big at the death as India’s power hitter. However, he had a poor run and scored a total of 69 runs in 3 matches with the highest, 35 runs which came against Afghanistan.
He did not had a good run with the ball too. In the two games, he bowled, he went wicket-less, and went for quite some runs. He was excluded from the New Zealand series as a result of not stepping up to the occasion in the World Cup. But Pandya has shown positive intent this year. After his captaincy heroics in the IPL, Pandya was named skipper in the T20I against ireland in June 2022.
Next month, Pandya made another record as he became the first Indian cricketer to hit a half-century and take a 4 wicket-haul in a single T20I inning. This was his maiden 50 in the format which came against England at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Hardik Pandya made his One Day International (ODI) debut against New Zealand at Dharamsala on 16 October 2016. Hardik was awarded Man of the Match on his debut. He thus became only the fourth Indian to be named player of the match on his ODI debut after Sandeep Patil, Mohit Sharma, and K. L. Rahul.
Hardik's performances in the 2017 Champions Trophy were lauded by the entire cricketing world. Following his 2017 performances, Hardik was selected in the ODI XI of the year 2017 by Cricinfo. In the group stage encounter with Pakistan, Hardik swung his bat thrice to record a hat-trick of sixes against Imad Wasim. In the finals, Hardik had odds stacked up against him when he entered on the ground with the scoreboard at 54/5.
Although India weren;t able to get across the finish line, Pandya unleashed his full potential and went all guns blazing as he scored a 43-ball 76.
Hardik Pandya was also a part of the 2019 WC squad which reached till the semi-finals of the tournament. Hardik Pandya was also a part of the 2019 WC squad which reached till the semi-finals of the tournament. Pandya made his 50th appearance for india in the 50-over format in the game against the West Indies. In July 2022, Pandya registered his best figures of 4/24 against England while playing in Old Trafford. In the same match, he scored 71 runs and equaled Yuvraj Singh’s 2011 record of hitting a fifty and picking up 4 wickets in ODIs.
Hardik Pandya was included as a batsman during his inaugural Test call-up, for England's tour of India in late 2016. However, he had to miss out because he injured himself while training in the nets at the PCA Stadium. However, he got a second chance after he was named in the Indian cricket squad for the Sri Lanka tour in July 2017.
He made his first Test debut on 26 July in Galle. He scored his maiden Test century in the same series and also became the first Indian batsman to score a Test century just before lunch. He also has the record for scoring the most runs in a single over of a Test innings for India (26 runs) to his name.
Pandya played his debut match in Galle, and impressed everyone with his aggressive style. In his maiden test inning, he scored a 50 off just 49 deliveries with 5 fours and 3 sixes. In his 3rd Test match, Hardik brought his maiden Test ton, scoring 108 runs in the first innings.
This innings became even special for Kung-fu-Pandya as he became the first Indian batsman to hit a ton before lunch in Tests! He also set the record for scoring the most runs in a single Test inning for India when he hit 26 runs.
Hardik Pandya was born on 11 October, 1993 in Surat, Gujarat to Himanshu Pandya and Malini Pandya. Growing up Hardik had do face many difficulties especially in terms of finance. Hardik's elder brother, Krunal Pandya also represents India on the international stage. The two brothers play for Mumbai Indians together in the IPL. The commentators call them 'Pandya Brothers' whenever the two brothers feature in the same match.
Hardik Pandya got engaged to Natasa Stankovic on a private boat on 1 Jan 2020. Their son was born on 30 June 2020. The duo did not have a big wedding ceremony but had posted a picture of a private family function during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The pictures that were posted on May 31 revealed a family function but that does not confirm that it was their wedding. Therefore, the exact date of the couple’s wedding is unknown
Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul made an appearance on a famous talk show, 'Koffee with Karan'. On the show, he made some controversial and sexist remarks for which he was criticized. As a result of his actions, both Pandya and KL Rahul were handed suspensions by BCCI midway between the Australia tour and were called back home to explain themselves. Hardik reasoned that he got carried away with the show.
