Hardik Pandya reveals how MS Dhoni made him a better player

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is currently busy playing for his country in a five-match T20I home series against South Africa. In the fourth match of the series, he played a good knock of 46 runs off 31 balls to post a good total of 169 runs on the board. India leveled the series after winning that match by a record margin of 82 runs, with one match to go.

However, Hardik Pandya is living his time of life as he has been elected the captain of the side for the upcoming away series against Ireland. On 15 June 2022, the Indian Cricket Board announced the decision for the two-match T20I series. Now, he shared how MS Dhoni’s suggestion made him a better player.

‘Stop thinking about your score and start focusing on what your team requires’ – MS Dhoni 

It was quite shocking for every fan when he was chosen for captaincy duties for the new franchise Gujarat in this year’s Indian T20 League. He was coming back from an injury setback and he had no game time behind his back. However, he proved his critics wrong and led his new franchise to win this trophy on their first attempt. During the season, he scored 487 runs in 15 matches at an average of 44.27 with a strike rate of 131.26. Even, with the ball, he took 8 wickets in 10 innings at an economy of 7.27.

In the final, he was the player of the match for his all-around performance (34 off 30 balls, three wickets for 17 runs). Now, he credited MS Dhoni and his suggestions behind his success as he considered those to be the things to make him a better cricketer. He said: “Mahi Bhai taught me one lesson, I asked how you handle the pressure and he told me ‘Stop thinking about your score and start focusing on what your team requires’ – that helped me a lot to become a better cricketer”

Pandya will be in action again for the final T20I match against the Proteas in Bengaluru on 19 June 2022.