Hardik Pandya owes his recent success to Rahul Dravid

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has really come of ages in the recent time. The young hard-hitting batsman found his way into the national side and has been consolidating on his claim ever since. Initially, he was seen as one of the bowlers who would fill in the quota of overs if some bowler has an odd day at the office. However, now the team management see him as a frontline pace bowler.

Well, all of this did not happen overnight. Hardik Pandya had a very poor outing with the Mumbai Indians in the previous edition of the IPL. That had seen him miss out on the national side as well. It was right then when Hardik had his stint with the India A team. He then worked hard with the India A coach Rahul Dravid. As per the recent quotes in Zee news, Hardik has credited his success to Rahul Dravid.

“When I got the call (into the national team), I was really excited and thought God wants me to do something nice. Let’s put everything in this tour, and it worked, and I made my comeback to the Indian team in two-and-a-half months when many said I wouldn’t come back even in 2 years. I should thank Rahul Sir as well, he went out of his way and talked me up,” he quoted.

He further added that during his off time, Dravid often came up to him to and kept him motivated. It was only about expressing oneself at the crease and in the pressure situations.

“I still remember when I got out a couple of times in the ODIs, he used to ask me to come and sit next to him and tell me, “Hardik you are the one guy who has the talent to represent India, so you need to express yourself and take charge of situations,” quipped Hardik Pandya.

Kohli left impressed

Earlier, even the Indian skipper Virat Kohli had noted that the addition of Hardik in the lineup had bolstered the team depth. He had noted that Kedar Jadhav and Pandya will ease out the pressure on Dhoni in the lower middle order.

“Having Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya do so well in that particular phase of the innings has strengthened our squad really well. And how they’re coming in provides that beautiful balance to us,” Kohli had quoted.