Selectors and team management know where I stand: Hardik Pandya

Hyderabad: Hardik Pandya’s bowling fitness status in the past couple of years had led to conjectures about his apparent “lack of communication” with national selectors and team management but the flamboyant all-rounder on Tuesday made it clear that “everyone knows” where he stood. Pandya’s back problem had led to him not bowling a lot in […]

Hyderabad: Hardik Pandya’s bowling fitness status in the past couple of years had led to conjectures about his apparent “lack of communication” with national selectors and team management but the flamboyant all-rounder on Tuesday made it clear that “everyone knows” where he stood. Pandya’s back problem had led to him not bowling a lot in the past two years but he intends to “surprise” everyone during the upcoming Indian Premier League where he would be captaining the CVC-owned Ahmedabad franchise. “They know where I am (in terms of bowling fitness). It has been communicated to everyone,” Pandya told PTI during an interaction facilitated by the franchise.

It is understood that Pandya has made it clear that he shouldn’t be considered for national selection for the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka as he’s still working on his bowling workload. “Hardik the batter and bowler combined sounds much better than Hardik the batter,” he said with an admission that he did contemplate becoming a “pure batsman” before deciding otherwise.

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He was asked where is he placed in terms of bowling. “It will be a surprise for everyone,” he said, keeping his cards close to his chest.

But he did admit that it has been challenging not being able to perform as an all-rounder although the criticism that came his way during T20 World Cup didn’t bother him much. “It’s been challenging (not being able to bowl) and I have always given (contributed) in three areas of the game. “But when I had decided that I wanted to only bat, I just wanted to spend some time on the ground and it has been challenging, yes,” he admitted.

Constructive criticism is something that he is looking forward to. “Healthy criticism is always good, but criticism generally doesn’t bother me as I know what I’m doing. I know how much hard yards I have put in. I have always worked hard for the processes and not the result. Results take care of itself when you put in genuine hardwork.” ‘Art of Captaincy’: Be around your player in rough times. Captaincy is a pretty new thing for Pandya as he had done that only once at U-16 level for Baroda which is chalk and cheese in terms of leadership at this level.

There is no “manual” for his captaincy but he does have a philosophy which is straight out of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s leadership textbook. “I will give an example — when someone is on a high and everything is falling in place, he genuinely does not need anyone, he’s at that point in good space and does not need anyone, I have always believed that when someone is having a bad day, that’s when he needs you,” he said, something that his ‘Guru’ Dhoni has always followed as a leader. “My philosophy is that if someone is doing well, as a captain, I will not bother him but when he is down, as a person I will be available if he needs me to hold his hand. That’s the motto I would like to follow. For anyone who needs me, I will always be there.”

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