All About Indian Cricketer Hardik Pandya; Age, Birthday And Career

Hardik Pandya was born October 11 in 1993 and is a right-handed batsman. He is an all-rounder and balls with the right hand as well, while the balling speed varies from medium to fast. He started his career by playing domestic cricket for Baroda and got his big break during the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Mumbai Indians (MI). He soon became a popular face in international cricket and his elder brother Krunal Pandya is also an international cricketer.

Early Life

Hardik Pandya was raised in the Gujarati city of Surat. Himanshu Pandya, Hardik's father, had a small auto financing business at Surat, that he closed and relocated to Vadodara once Hardik was aged five years old to provide cricket practice facilities for his boys, and soon the cricket academy of Kiran More in Vadodara accepted his two kids (Hardik and Krunal). His family was poor and stayed in a leased flat in Gorwa, due to which the brothers had to drive a used car to the cricket pitch. Hardik attended MK High School until grade 9 when he dropped out to concentrate on cricket. Hardik made consistent development in youth cricket and became victorious in a number of matches, performing single-handedly in club matches. Hardik explained in an interview that he had been initially dismissed from the state age-group clubs owing to "attitude issues." He went on to say that he was simply an expressive youngster who likes to show his emotions. Hardik was at first leg spinner till he was 18 when he switched to fast bowling after a suggestion of Sanath Kumar, his then coach.

Career

Indian Premier League (IPL): During the penultimate over of Mumbai Indians against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in 2017, Hardik Pandya hit 30 runs in one over with spinner Ashok Dinda, setting a new record. However, Mumbai went on to lose the match. He was retained by the team (Mumbai Indians) for a sum of Rs. 11 crores throughout the 2018 IPL Player Auction. In that particular season, Hardik especially had a solid league, having his throwing more remarkable than his hitting. He dominated the IPL season of 2019 with both his bowling and batting. He scored a total of 402 runs and also claimed 14 wickets in 16 games, averaging 44 runs and hitting a cumulative 29 sixes and 28 fours. He also won the title of the Mumbai Indians' Super Striker of the Season, with a striking rate of more than 170, but he came short against Andre Russell, whose strike rate tops the list with 205. Hardik scored a fast 91 off only 34 balls while playing against KKR with a target score of 232. Ever since then Hardik has been performing brilliantly in IPL each time.

ODI: On October 16, 2016, Pandya earned his ODI debut to play for India going against New Zealand at Dharamshala. Following Sandeep Patil, and two he secured the title of the fourth Indian who has been awarded as the "player of the match" on his ODI debut. He scored a total of 36 runs from 32 balls during his debut ODI innings playing as a batter. Pandya slammed three successive sixes against Imad Wasim in the very same over right before the rain interrupted. After going in along India at 54/5 amid a top-order failure, he hit 76 runs from 43 balls on June 18, 2017. Cricinfo also named him the ODI XI Of The Year for 2017.

Test: Around late 2016, Pandya was picked to India's Test team for its home match against England, however, he was subsequently ruled out after injuring himself while preparing in the nets there at PCA Stadium. In the month of July 2017, he was chosen to the team that traveled to Sri Lanka, where he contested in his debut Test in Galle. Pandya made his first Test century during the concluding Test with Sri Lanka in Pallekele, breaking the record of being the first Indian batter to hit a Test hundred before lunch. He also made history for most runs scored in one single over in a Test series for India, with 26 runs. His very first hundred in international cricket came with this score.