India all-rounder Hardik Pandya made his international debut in 2016, and after a lot of injury battles, he has now captained the national team 11 times. After former captain Kapil Dev, India have always struggled to find a genuine pace all-rounder. For the same reason, the team has been patient with Pandya despite him being on the sidelines for a considerable amount of time due to persistent back issues.
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It was in 2015 that legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar had predicted that Pandya would play international cricket, and he was certainly not wrong. Current Indian head coach Rahul Dravid used to coach the India A team previously, and he had an interaction with Pandya ahead of his first international tour.
Pandya had a mediocre IPL in 2015, but he was selected for India A squad for Zimbabwe tour. Dravid was with the side back then where he gave his valuable feedback to ‘Kung-Fu’ Pandya.
What Rahul Dravid Advised Hardik Pandya Before Indian All-rounder’s Debut Tour to Australia
Pandya revealed what Dravid had advised him before going to Australia. He said that Dravid asked him to be a smart cricketer rather than someone who just gives excuses about playing the natural game. Nicknamed The Wall, Dravid had explained Pandya that smartness lies in playing according to the situation rather than just slogging.
Pandya acknowledged that those words made him understand a lot about playing situation-based cricket. Dravid termed the ‘natural game’ as a foolish thing.
“So what happened was, I was with the Baroda state team. I got a call from BCCI, saying I might have to fly to Australia as Vijay Shankar has got an injury or something,” Hardik Pandya had said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
“I went there and in a meeting someone said that I am going to play my natural game. So, Rahul Dravid did not agree to that and said there is no [such] thing as natural game.”
Rahul Dravid praised Hardik Pandya captaincy after IPL 2022
Under Pandya’s captaincy, Gujarat Titans won IPL 2022. When Pandya was named the captain of the side, a lot of eyebrows were raised. However, the result was in front of everyone. Not just as captain, but Pandya made contributions with both bat and the ball.
Dravid lauded Pandya’s performance in the IPL and said that Pandya deserves to be a part of the leadership group in the national team as well. After a few months, Pandya was leading on the international stage as well.
“Hardik’s leadership was impressive right through the IPL. You need to be a designated leader to be part of the leadership group. From our perspective, we would want to get the best,” Rahul Dravid had told reporters.
