'I was dropped from the U17 team due to my attitude problem' - Hardik Pandya

While Hardik Pandya is one of the most sought after and well-paid cricket stars in the world right now, he did not always have a smooth life as far as making ends are concerned. Hardik and his elder brother Krunal had to fight adversities to realise their dream of playing for India. Their father was the sole earner in the family and thus the financial condition was not that good.

And Hardik has now revealed how he was responsible for deteriorating his family’s condition. The all-rounder was dropped from Baroda’s U17 team due to attitude problem and at the same time, his father suffered a heart attack. His father had to stop working and with Hardik also not earning from the junior cricket team, the Pandya household had to struggle to make ends meet.

“I still remember I had a situation in which I was dropped from the U17 team because of the things which I had with my coach. It was very hilarious. I still remember someone telling my brother that I had an attitude problem. At the age of 16, I did not even know what attitude was. It was very funny that someone told me that I had an attitude.

“So I got dropped from the team and at the same time, my father got a heart attack. He was some who used to earn in our family. I and Krunal used to get a maximum of Rs 35,000 a year which is what you got at that time, playing U-16 or U-19 if I am not wrong,” he told India Today,

“Papa got a heart attack. He obviously stopped going to the office. Krunal got dropped, I got dropped because of my behaviour. At that point in time, everything stopped. Even that Rs 35,000 that could have helped us for a couple of months, it stopped,” he added.

The turnaround of Hardik Pandya

Always a talented cricketer, Hardik Pandya did not take long to turn things around. After learning lessons from his mistakes and seeing the ordeals of his family, he decided to concentrate fully on cricket in order to realise his dream of living a fantastic life. Hardik Pandya revealed how he cut himself off from the world to focus on the game.

“We have seen good life, we were a decent family. But things just went haywire. Mentally, I was not able to take it and asked ‘why us?’. Then I was talking to myself, you want a fantastic life so you have to work hard for it. Then I decided, I am going to put in all the efforts into my game,” Hardik said.

“I just went for the next three years between 17 and 19, I completely gave it to cricket. I just stopped talking to people. I was having just cricket friends, no one from the outside circle. Neither a girl or a guy or anyone. I was just cut-off from the world because I felt it might just distract me from my goal,” he added.

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