Hardik Himanshu Pandya, the Indian cricketer, turned 26 on Friday. Born in Surat, his father, Himanshu Pandya, shifted to Vadodara, then known as Baroda when he was five.
Hardik studied only until ninth grade before he dropped out to concentrate on his cricketing career. Until the age of 18, he was a leg spinner. But his first Baroda coach, Sanath Kumar, insisted him to switch over to fast bowling.
He made his first-class debut when he played for Baroda against Madhya Pradesh in Vadodara in Ranji Trophy in November 2013. Following an impressive performance for his home team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament in 2013–14, he was picked up for Mumbai Indians.
Pandya was noticed by the Indian cricketing fraternity when he played an unbeaten knock of 61 of 31 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2015. In Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in January 2016, he became Baroda’s leading run-getter, amassing 377 runs at an average of 53.85 in 10 innings.
Pandya took 10 wickets for Baroda and was mainly responsible for his team making it to the Syed Mushtaq Ali final.
Hardik Pandya was picked up in India’s T20I squad when the team toured Australia in January 2016. He made his T20 international debut in the second T20. Pandya played his first ODI against New Zealand in Dharamshala in October 2016 and made his test debut against Sri Lanka in July 2017.
He has to date represented India in 11 Tests, 45 ODIs and 38 T20s. he is currently in London, recuperating from back surgery.
