Cricket News

‘Hardik Pandya is a changed man now’ – Sanjay Manjrekar draws light on Hardik Pandya’s personality

Former Cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has said that ‘Hardik Pandya is more than a hard-hitting batter and is now a completely changed guy’. The highlight of India’s victory in the third ODI against England was centred upon a wonderful all-rounded performance by Pandya.

He scored 71 runs with the bat of just 55 deliveries and picked up four wickets with the ball for just 24 runs in a 7-over spell. This performance from Hardik Pandya helped the Men in Blue win by 5 wickets and clinch the ODI series 2-1 against England.

Speaking on SPORTS18’s show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Absolutely, Hardik Pandya is a completely changed guy. First of all, picking him as one of their first players, before that his fitness was a problem, and his batting was an issue for the earlier franchise. Not only did they pick him, and back him as one of their marquee players they gave him the captaincy.”

Sanjay Manjrekar showered lavish praise on Rishabh Pant as well. “Just the way the league turned out for him. Hardik Pandya is a changed man now, there’s a lot of maturity, responsibility, and ambition as well. I see a sense of ambition coming into him. And once you have that, wanting to grow within Indian Cricket then there’s tremendous motivation. He’s also addressing himself in the third person now. Hardik Pandya has arrived,” he added.

“Yes, just hoping that Hardik can keep his fitness together. No issues with Rishabh Pant. What we saw in that last one day, I was completely floored by the sheer talent and ability of these two guys, temperament as well, to build a long partnership, and how easily, in the end, India won. Thanks to Rishabh Pant for staying there till the end. So yes, high-quality batters, and they’re going to be batting mostly at number 4 and 5 whether it’s T20 Cricket or 50 overs cricket, or Pant could be opening as well. In 2019, we had a lot of issues finding a proper middle order but now we have some quality supply,” he said.