Looking at India vice-captain Hardik Pandya‘s personality, one doesn’t feel that he’s either superstitious or overtly religious. While Pandya hasn’t really spoken much about his religious beliefs in the public domain, he had touched upon his lack of belief with respect to superstitions during IPL 2021.
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Pandya, who used to play for Mumbai Indians at the time, had revealed how he isn’t a fan of performing special activities, not even trivial ones, to get results in his favour. However, during the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Pakistan, Pandya was seen bowing down to higher powers before picking his first wicket at the home ground of his Indian Premier League franchise Gujarat Titans.
Hardik Pandya Casts Spell To Get Imam ul Haq Out
With captain Rohit Sharma opting to bowl first after winning the toss, Indian new-ball bowlers had failed to run through the Pakistani top-order. In the eighth over, pacer Mohammed Siraj finally took the wicket of Abdullah Shafique. Introduced into the attack a ball after Siraj dismissed Shafique, Pandya also chipped in with a wicket in his third over.
Having leaked as many as 18 runs in his first two overs, Pandya hadn’t started his first spell in a fruitful manner. Additionally, after conceding five runs on the first two balls of his third over, Pandya appeared to be livid with himself. Before bowling the third delivery, he was seen casting some kind of a spell on the ball or sincerely praying to god in the hope of success.
To everyone’s surprise, Pandya managed to pick a wicket on the very next ball. Wanting to drive a full delivery outside the off-stump, Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq edged the ball to India wicket-keeper KL Rahul behind the wickets. Readers must note that the angle and a slight movement off the pitch did the trick for Pandya. Meanwhile, whatever Pandya recited before bowling that ball, it certainly was highly effective for him.
Hardik Pandya Isn’t A Believer Of Superstitions
In a video released by Indians during the 15th season of the IPL, Pandya was seen talking about how he loves carrying so many bats in his cricket bag without caring much about superstitions with respect to which bat to use on a particular day. In what wasn’t the best of seasons for Pandya, he had still clearly stated that he doesn’t believe in any kind of ‘totka‘.
“I like to be less superstitious than anyone. So, yeah I don’t have any ‘totka’ [superstition]. I don’t believe in them,” Pandya had said.
Readers must note that there is no particular meaning of ‘totka‘. In what is more of a slang used by Hindi-speaking people, it mostly refers to a special or magical remedy to cure a problem. This word is commonly used in astrology and black magic. There is no science or logic behind the same. Hence, it is called superstition.
