Vijay Dahiya Hailed This Former Indian Cricketer For Deepak Hooda’s Transformation
Vijay Dahiya and Deepak Hooda (Image Source: Twitter)
Deepak Hooda has come up as a vital option for Team India after he got the opportunity to represent his country again in T20Is against Ireland and England. In the second T20I against Ireland, he smashed a hundred also. After having a fantastic Indan T20 League for his Lucknow franchise, he got such an opportunity.
Now, former Indian player and Lucknow’s assistant coach, Vijay Dahiya credited another former India great, Gautam Gambhir for backing Deepak Hooda in this year’s Indian T20 League. Gautam Gambhir was the mentor of that franchise. Dahiya said that it was Gambhir’s backing that helped Deepak to flourish this time in the tournament.
“Deepak Hooda wants to get better every day.” – Vijay Dahiya
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Vijay Dahiya said that Deepak Hooda has always been a great student of this game. He said: “Gauti told him, whatever happens, you will play all the games. Deepak was pleasantly surprised because it’s the kind of backing he hadn’t gotten in the Indian T20 League,”
He also added that Deepak Hooda has the urge to get better every day. “He’s a keen student of the game. He wants to get better every day. There is a purpose to his training, the hunger is immense. But sometimes, he could become too intense for someone who is keen to do well. He can be hard on himself at times,” Dahiya said.
Dahiya also shared his impressive work ethic for his development. “The shorter formats can be unforgiving, so we had to speak to him a few times to let go and be less intense. The thing with such a mindset is when things are going well, you aren’t going to find too many issues, but when things don’t come off, that is when it could get tricky. But he’ll learn, he has a tremendous work ethic, and it’s all part of his development as a player.” Vijay Dahiya concluded.
Speaking about Deepak Hooda’s form, for Lucknow, he scored 451 runs, while batting in the middle order throughout the tournament. Now, he is in the squad for the upcoming West Indies ODIs to showcase his potential ahead of major tournaments.
