Published: Aug 14, 2017, 10:12 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 14, 2017, 10:12 AM (IST)
Hardik Pandya is an extremely confident young bloke. He believes in his abilities and backs himself despite all adversities. Pandya’s addition to the Indian set-up has further boosted the side’s fortunes across formats. On Sunday, against Sri Lanka at Pallekele, Pandya hammered his first Test century, which happened to be his maiden three-figure knock in First-Class cricket as well. Pandya mentioned that for the first time he had no anxieties in the 90s. He credited MS Dhoni for making him learn that no matter what, put the team ahead of anything else and to play according to the scoreboard. ALSO READ: If I can be 10% of what Kapil Dev was, I will be happy in my life, says Hardik Pandya
“First time in my life I have not had the 90s butterfly. Otherwise, I don’t remember previous centuries, but I used to have butterflies from what I can remember. In today’s game when I batted I was in a different zone. When I bat, I don’t think about my personal scores and achievements. It has helped me enough. One thing I learned from Mahi bhai [MS Dhoni] is that you always put your team ahead, see the scoreboard and play accordingly. That has helped me throughout,” Pandya revealed at the press conference at the end of Day Two.
Pandya entered the record books when he smacked Malinda Pushpakumara for 26 off one over to amass the fifth joint third-most runs in an over in Tests.
“It just happened, honestly. I didn’t want to go all over but don’t know what happened. May be I was connecting pretty well, so I thought ‘let me try’ and I scored 26 runs. It obviously feels good,” he said. “From there I saw the scoreboard and I was batting on 80 and I was like, wow! Then I noticed I was in the zone, I don’t usually look at the scoreboard. I don’t want to know what’s happening around. I just focus on how I can help the innings progress.”
‘Calculative risks’
Pandya seems to have learned from his mistakes of playing rash strokes. He took “calculative risks”.
“Nine wickets were already down and I knew, if I stay in the crease and connect the ball well, it would go for six. Even if I were to miss hit, I had to. I had no choice. It was an ideal opportunity and obviously there was a team’s goal and which was to reach 400-run target and we scored close to 490. When me and Wriddhi (Wriddhiman Saha) went in, we played normally. Once he got out, still Kuldeep (Yadav) was there, and I could take singles with him. Even Shami and Umesh can bat, but you also know that when you have one wicket left, you play a different game; when you have three wickets, you play differently. I just batted according to the situation,” added Pandya.
Pandya also thanked his luck and promised to continue working hard.
“God has been pretty kind to me. I am pretty lucky I got things pretty quickly in life. I am just happy. I have worked hard enough and I am getting whatever I have worked hard for,” the 23-year-old said.
