Hardik Pandya Birthday: How did Hardik Pandya become a fast bowler from a leg spinner? This person is the big reason
Team India's dashing all-rounder Hardik Pandya is celebrating his birthday on 11 October. 31-year-old Pandya is an important part of the Indian team's pace attack today. He breaks partnerships in the middle and also bowls in the death overs. In the final of the T20 World Cup, he turned the losing game around on the strength of his bowling. First he broke the partnership by dismissing the dangerous-looking Heinrich Klaasen and then made India the winner of the T20 World Cup after 17 years by saving 16 runs in the last over. Pandya took 3 important wickets by giving only 20 runs in 3 overs. But do you know that Pandya, who bowls so charismatically, was once a leg spinner? Then one incident changed his career completely.
How did Pandya become a fast bowler?
Hardik Pandya is a resident of Surat but his father Himanshu Pandya shifted to Baroda to pursue cricket. Because Baroda had good facilities for playing cricket. After this, he got Hardik and his elder brother Krunal admitted to the academy of former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Kiran More. According to his childhood personal coach Jitendra Kumar, 7-year-old Hardik was very hardworking from the beginning. He used to reach the academy first. Hardik's father said that earlier he used to only bat. He started bowling very late and first tried his hand at leg spin.
Hardik's ability as a fast bowler was recognized by his childhood coach Sanath Kumar. An incident transformed him from a leg spinner to a fast bowler. Once a net session was going on and the lower-order batsmen had to practice. Some fast bowlers were needed for this but all the fast bowlers were tired. Then coach Sanath Kumar asked him to bowl in the nets. During this time Hardik was bowling at a speed of about 130 kilometers per hour. Everyone was surprised to see his pace and control. After this Sanath Kumar started training him for this and today the result is in front of everyone.
Hardik Pandya's coach said that he was a top-order batsman from the beginning and was never afraid of hitting big shots. He could bat for hours. Many times, despite batting for a long session, he would request his coach to bat more. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy Under-16 tournament in 2009, Hardik batted for 8 hours and scored 228 runs in 391 balls. During this, he hit 29 fours and 1 six. Due to this innings, he was selected for the Under-19 team of the Cooch Behar Trophy.