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Not MS Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar, but this player was Hardik Pandya’s favourite

Hardik Pandya is enjoying a great time as he won the recently concluded Indian T20 League 2022 by leading his new franchise, Gujarat. For that stellar performance, he made a comeback to the India Team for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa, starting on 9 June.

While speaking on the SG podcast, this India All-rounder revealed his favourite cricketer while growing up. As a surprise, he picked Wasim Jaffer as his favourite cricketer. This former India batter did not have a long international career as he eas in the era of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and VVS Laxman.

Still, Wasim Jaffer managed to play in 31 Test matches for India where he scored 1944 runs, including five centuries and 11 fifties. He is known as a domestic giant as he accumulated 12038 runs (most runs in the Ranji trophy history) between 1996 to 2020.

“My favourite cricketer was actually Wasim Jaffer. I used to love watching him bat.” – Hardik Pandya

Speaking on the SG podcast, Hardik said that he loved Wasim Jaffar’s batting styles and tried to copy them also. But, he could not manage to gain his class. He said: “Like everyone, I had favourite cricketers. I liked Jacques Kallis, Virat, Sachin sir. There are so many greats that you can’t pick. My favourite cricketer was actually Wasim Jaffer. I used to love watching him bat. Someone I always placed him above other legends. Somehow, I used to copy his batting, but I was never able to get his class,” 

"My favourite cricketer was Wasim Jaffer while growing up. I used to love watching him bat." – Hardik Pandya (To SG podcast)

— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) June 7, 2022

Hardik also opened up on his equation with his brother, Krunal Pandya. He said that having a brother in the field always helped them in motivating and improving each other. “Krunal and I are each other’s backbone. We talk cricket, life and a lot of things. If you would have asked me six years before that both your brothers would play for India together, I would take it.” Hardik concluded.

The aggressive all-rounder will be in action for India as they are all set to face the Proteas on 9 June in the first of the five-match T20I series.