Krunal Pandya lauds Hardik’s work ethics, says he worked a lot on his fitness during break of 7-8 months
During the Delhi Capitals (DC) vs Mumbai Indians (MI) match at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Thursday night, Rohit Sharma’s men received huge support and they didn’t disappoint their fans and went on to win the game by 40 runs. The Pandya brothers produced all-round efforts to guide the visitors to a comprehensive win. After the win, Krunal said Pandya had worked a lot on his fitness during his time away from cricket which helped him a lot.
“In the seven-eight months where he was away from cricket due to injury and other reasons, he worked a lot on his fitness. Cricket has been the priority in his life ever since I know him. I haven’t seen many players who possess the kind of work ethics he has. His goal always has been to improve his game. As a result of that, he is now hitting big shots against pacers as well,” Krunal said.
Hardik (32 off 15) and Krunal (37 off 26) went on to add 51 runs in 18 balls to shift the momentum towards Mumbai on Kotla’s slow track. While Krunal was initially finding it difficult to score boundaries, Hardik once again looked in sublime form from the word go and entertained the spectators with some lusty blows. Krunal further lauded Hardik’s never-say-die attitude.
“The thing I like the most about Hardik is his never-say-die attitude. He is very dedicated to cricket. Since he was 14-15, his priority has been cricket. If you see, every year, he adds something new to his game. His self-belief is huge which also gives him a lot of confidence. I learn a lot from him – about how to remain confident, how to back yourself if you are down,” Krunal added.
The older Pandya also explained how he, along with Suryakumar Yadav (26 off 27 balls), was looking to keep the scoreboard moving during their partnership and set the stage for Hardik to accelerate the pace in the death overs.
“It was a tricky wicket. When I and Surya were batting, we were not looking to get nine or ten runs in an over. We were looking for those 4-5 crucial overs where we can set the platform for Hardik and Pollard. It was a crucial partnership and we ended up where we wanted to,” said the 28-year-old.
Chasing MI’s 168-run total, DC batsmen failed to show any teeth. Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw provided a decent 49-run opening stand in 6.3 overs. The partnership was broken by Rahul Chahar who trapped Dhawan in front of the wicket. Colin Munro (3), Shreyas Iyer (3) and Rishabh Pant (7) were dismissed in quick succession and Delhi could never recover from the loss.
