Hardik Pandya takes a cheeky dig at his critics

While speaking about the critics being constantly at his heels at the beginning of the tournament, the Gujarat skipper, Hardik Pandya gave a cheeky reply to silence them. Pandya was asked about the critics talking about his fitness and his leadership skills when he was handed over the captaincy of the new franchise, Gujarat. In reply, the star Indian all-rounder said that he laughs off criticism and added that news sells with his name easily.

When the Indian T20 League 2022 started the Indian fans were also concerned about the fitness and form of the all-rounder. Pandya is an integral part of the Indian T20 team because of his multi-dimensional abilities. But the fact that he was not able to bowl at his full rhythm was a concern for the fans and experts. With the T20 World Cup scheduled later this year all eyes were on Hardik as to how he manages his performances and the responsibility of leading the team simultaneously.

But defying the odds, Pandya has impressed everybody with his leadership skills and led Gujarat to the top of the table by the end of the league stages of the tournament. He has been sensible and responsible with the bat in hand throughout the tournament and that continued in Qualifier 1 against Rajasthan. While chasing a target of 189 runs in the match Pandya played the role of an anchor and played second fiddle to David Miller (68 off 38) helping the team to 7 wickets win and a spot in the final of the tournament.

After the match, Hardik was asked about his critics, to which he replied- “Logo ka toh kaam hai kehna. Kya karu Sir? Hardik Pandya ke saath thoda news bikta hain. Mujhe koi problem nahi hai. Hasi ke saath nikal deta hoo.” This roughly translates to- “What can I do sir? News sells in Hardik Pandya’s name. I am okay with it. I just laugh it off.”

The skipper of the Gujarat team also heaped praises on David Miller for his match-winning knock under pressure. In the post-match presentations, Hardik said- “I am genuinely proud of the way he has lifted his game up. He is such a wonderful guy. I always wanted good things to happen to him. It shows that if you give importance to an individual player, he can flourish and how. A lot of people counted David Miller out, but for us, he was always a match-winner from the time we bought him at the auction. We always expected him to do what he did today. For us, it was important to give him that clarity about what we expect from him.”