Taking off from sport was to prepare for T20 World Cup 2022: Hardik Pandya

By Vivek Prabhakar Singh
Baroda (Gujarat) [India], February 1 : Hardik Pandya has been out of action from cricket due to his lower back injury and rehabilitation of the same since November 2021. The star Indian all-rounder last played an international match was a T20 international against Namibia in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai. The 28-year-old took an off not only to recover from injury but to also get fit before the T20 World Cup 2022 which will be played in Australia starting October 16.
"Yes, my goal has been when I started as a cricketer I always prepared one year before. For World Cup my journey when the last world cup was finished me taking off from the sport was to prepare for the world cup which is coming now and playing for India has been a dream and will always be my dream. No matter how many games or how many years I play for. I will always cherish and I will always respect that feeling. That feeling I mean is very difficult to explain but my plan is to make sure that I give my best during the World Cup," said Hardik Pandya while speaking to ANI.
Hardik Pandya has already started to train but the question arises is will he do both the jobs of batting and bowling or will be just do one of the things as he did not bowl much in IPL 2021 for Mumbai and even did not bowl much for India in ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE due to injury.
"It is a surprise but the plan is yes. I have always worked hard to play as an all-rounder which I will always do. This break which I got was very important for me as a cricketer and as a person as well because staying away from your family in a bio-bubble, things get difficult as well. For me when I got this opportunity it kind of gave me time to reflect on a lot of things which I am doing right now and practice wise I have always believed in working hard which I always do and that never stops. I have always learnt one thing in my life where hard work never gets wasted no matter where. I might work hard for it I might not get a result here but I might get somewhere else. You do get a fair share of hard work."
Hardik Pandya in all probability will be going to be in action for his Ahmedabad franchise but the suspense of him playing in IPL 2022 as an all-rounder still remains. Whether he will contribute with both bat and ball is the biggest question.