sanjeev
khelja|05-02-2025
Star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya took a trip down memory lane in an interview with the ICC, sharing some of the most defining moments in his career.
Having featured in several ICC tournaments, Pandya has emerged a game-changer. He played a pivotal role in India’s ICC Men’s T20I World Cup triumph last year. Pandya claimed the crucial wicket of Heinrich Klaasen when South Africa were chasing 177 for victory.
“There was not much spoken. Ro [Rohit Sharma] and I have played for so many years. He knows what character I am, what personality I am and how much I value cricket awareness. So just before the ball, I told him that I’m gonna go wide to Klaasen and I just knew that he’s going to expect a ball on the stumps.
“His leg was a little leg-sidish, so I knew he’s going to try to hit me there and that’s when I, just before my run-up, I looked at him and said I’m going to go slow because I didn’t set a field for a slower ball. I had to outfox him or I had to be one-up in the game, because the way he was hitting, it was just tremendous. So that just opened the door for us,” Pandya explained.