Hardik Pandya

Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer who is the current vice-captain of the Indian cricket team in limited overs format.

He is the captain of Mumbai Indians franchise in IPL.

A batting all-rounder who can also bowl right-arm fast-medium deliveries, Pandya has represented India in all 3 formats.

He is considered to be one of the best all-rounders in world cricket.

He is often stated as a rare talent by cricketing experts across the world.

As of March 2024, he plays for the Baroda cricket team in domestic cricket and the Mumbai Indians, whom he captains, in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Hardik Pandya was born on 11 October 1993 in Surat, Gujarat.

His father, Himanshu Pandya, ran a small car finance business in Surat which he shut down and moved to Vadodara when Hardik was five to provide his sons with better cricket training facilities.

Himanshu Pandya worked as a loan agent in Vadodara.

He enrolled his two sons into Kiran More's cricket academy in Vadodara.

Lacking finances, the Pandya family lived in a rented apartment in Gorwa, with the brothers using a second-hand car to travel to the cricket ground.

Hardik studied at the MK High School until ninth grade before dropping out to focus on cricket.

Hardik made steady progress in junior-level cricket, and according to Krunal, "won a lot of matches single-handedly" in club cricket.

In an interview with the Indian Express, Hardik revealed that he was dropped from his state age-group teams due to his "attitude problems".

He added that he was "just an expressive child" who did not "like to hide his emotions."

According to his father, Hardik was a leg spinner until the age of 18 and turned to fast bowling at the insistence of the Baroda coach Sanath Kumar.

Pandya has been playing for the Baroda cricket team since 2013.

He played a vital role in helping Baroda win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the 2013–14 season.

Pandya played for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL from 2015 to 2021.

Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, in a must-win situation for Mumbai Indians to remain in the playoff race, he scored 61 runs off 31 balls to win the match for his side, earning him his second man of the match award in the season.

Ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, Pandya was released by the Mumbai Indians.

He was then drafted by the new Ahmedabad franchise, Gujarat Titans, and named captain of the team.

He led Gujarat to their maiden IPL title in 2022, becoming the first captain after Shane Warne to lead a team to the title in its first year.

In the IPL 2023 Pandya again led Gujarat Titans to the finals but lost to Chennai Super Kings by five wickets through DLS method.

In IPL 2024, Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians after 2 seasons.

He was announced as the captain of the side replacing Rohit Sharma.

In January 2016, he slammed eight sixes during his innings, scoring 86 runs not-out, to guide the Baroda cricket team to a six-wicket win over Vidarbha cricket team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Pandya made his Twenty20 International debut for India on 27 January 2016 at the age of 22, picking up 2 wickets against Australia.

His first Twenty20 International wicket was Chris Lynn.

In the second T20I against Sri Lanka cricket team at Ranchi, he batted ahead of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni and hit 27 off 14 balls before becoming hat-trick victim of Thisara Perera.

In Asia Cup 2016, Pandya smashed an 18-ball 31 helping India post a respectable score against Bangladesh.

Later on, he also picked up a wicket to secure the win.

In the next match against Pakistan he bowled his best figures of 3 for 8 which restricted Pakistan to 83.

In a 2016 World Twenty20 match against Bangladesh on 23 March, Pandya took two crucial wickets in the last three balls of match's final over as India beat Bangladesh by one run.

His career best bowling figures of 4 for 38 was achieved in the 3rd and final Twenty20 International against England on 8 July 2018, he got 33 Not Out in 14 balls, hitting the winning runs with a six off Jordan.

Hardik became first Indian to take 4 wickets and score above 30 runs in a T20I in the same match.

In September 2021, Pandya was named in India's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

However, Pandya failed to make an impact as was expected.

He scored 11 against Pakistan, which India lost by 10 wickets.

His subsequent innings of 23 against New Zealand did not help to further India's cause in the tournament as losing against New Zealand meant India crashed out of the World Cup despite winning big over inexperienced teams like Afghanistan, Scotland, and Namibia.