'I was proud of the process I followed'- Hardik Pandya recalls his road to comeback

Hardik Pandya has talked about the sacrifices he had made and the amount of hard work that he had put in to make a successful comeback to the cricket field. The star all-rounder had taken an indefinite break from the game after the conclusion of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in November last year in order to rediscover his mojo with the ball.

Speaking about his recovery process, Hardik said that he used to get up at 5 am in the morning daily. At the same time, the Baroda cricketer also went on to add that he was completely written off by many critics during that particular phase, but that did not bother him as he was more focused on his process and not interested in giving any reply to them.

A lot of things were said about me before I made a comeback: Hardik Pandya

“A lot of things were said about me before I made a comeback. For me, it was never about giving them answers. I was proud of the process I followed, no one knows exactly what I went through during the six months off,” said Hardik Pandya while speaking to BCCI TV.

“I got up at 5 am in the morning to make sure I trained and trained at four for the second time in a day to make sure I gave myself enough rest. I have slept for almost those four months at 9:30 pm. A lot of sacrifices were made but for me, it was the battle that I had before playing the IPL. It was satisfying to see the results,” he added.

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Hardik eventually went on to make an outstanding comeback in IPL 2022 where he not only captained the new franchise Gujarat Titans really well but also showcased exceptional performances with the bat and ball. He finished with 487 runs and eight wickets from 15 matches with his best figures being 3/17 against the Rajasthan Royals in the final that restricted them to a below-par 130/9.

The IPL performances helped Pandya in getting an India call-up for the ongoing home T20Is against South Africa. He was really impressive in the first match at Delhi where he added finishing touches to the Indian innings with an unbeaten 12-ball 31. His death overs heroics helped the Men in Blue post a mammoth 211/4.