'Luck Comes To People Who Work Hard: Hardik Reveals Conversation With Dravid After His Heroics Vs Bangladesh
'luck comes to people who work hard: hardik reveals conversation with dravid after his heroics vs bangladesh
Hardik Pandya's all-round show helped India thrash Bangladesh by 50 runs in their second Super 8 game of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua on Saturday. The win took unbeaten India closer towards the semi-final berth in the tournament.
Riding on a half-century from vice-captain Hardik Pandya (50 off 27 balls) and useful knocks from Virat Kohli (37), Rishabh Pant (36) and Shivam Dube (34), India posted 196 for 5. In reply, Bangladesh were all at sea against Kuldeep Yadav's (3/19 in 4 overs) left-arm wrist spin as they were restricted to only 146 for 8 in 20 overs. Pandya showed his all-round prowess with a wicket as only skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (40 off 32 balls) looked comfortable in the middle. Jasprit Bumrah (2/13 in 4 overs) was economical as ever.
The 30-year-old Pandya was given the Player of the Match Award for his impressive performance and he opened up on tough times during the post-match presentation.
Notably, Hardik's downward spiral started last year against the same Bangladesh in a 50-over World Cup game as he walked away with an injury. His injury kept him out for four months and then he had a very ordinary two months in the IPL as MI skipper as well as a player.
There was no silver lining for India's best all-rounder in contemporary times but the star cricketer always believed that fortune favours the brave if they hang around and he has regained his mojo during this T20 World Cup.
"I have been fortunate to play for the country, it was a freak injury I had, I wanted to come back but God had other plans. I was speaking to our coach Rahul sir (Dravid) and he said 'Luck comes to people who work hard' and that has stuck with me for a long time," said Pandya.
"We have played really good cricket. More than anything we have stuck together and executed our plans," he added.
He also praised Dube, who has so far struggled, for playing a composed innings under pressure.
"At the point Shivam went (in), a couple of wickets were lost. He had to take his time and we did well to recover. His strength is to take down spinners. When the time came, when we could go hard, we went (after their bowling) after that,” Pandya said.
The star all-rounder believed that the pitch would get slower as the match progressed.
"Definitely it tends to get slower in the end, some balls were sliding down when bowled at the right length, discipline and good bowling should do the job," he added.
Notably, there was a lot of cross wind blowing across the stadium and Pandya spoke about using the breeze.
"I did realise the batters wanted to use the breeze, I made sure I did not give them a chance where the wind was blowing, it was about being one step ahead as a batter," he said.
The Indian vice-captain also said that there is room for improvement as a batting unit.
"We as a group can get better in a lot of places, losing wickets in bunches is something we can rectify and get better at, apart from that, we are looking good," said Hardik.
India will face Australia in their next Super 8 fixture in St Lucia on Monday.