“I Was Not Good At It”: Hardik Pandya Once Revealed He Didn’t Quit Education For Cricket

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has come a very long way in his career. Pandya also had to compromise on his education. There has been a lot of speculation that he quit his studies just for the sake of cricket, but he once revealed that the game was not the only reason behind the same.

Pandya was born in Surat, but for providing better cricketing opportunities to his children, Pandya’s father decided to shift to Baroda. Baroda is a cricketing hub in Gujarat which has given a lot of star players to the Indian cricket team. Himanshu Pandya (Pandya’s father) had a car finance business back in Surat but he decided to shut it down.

Pandya proved his dad’s decision right as he had an Indian Premier League contract just at the age of 22 with Mumbai Indians. He could not complete his studies, but, on the show Breakfast With Champions, he advised the juniors to complete a degree instead of sacrificing their everything for any sport.

Hardik Pandya Once Revealed He Didn’t Quit Education For Cricket

Talking to NDTV, Pandya once said that he was just not good at studies and that’s why he decided to abandon it. He had insisted that there were other factors as well behind the same. The fact that he was just good in cricket, it motivated him to work even more harder to achieve success.

“I didn’t leave my studies because of the sport. It’s just that I was not good at it. There were many factors, money was a problem and I was not involved in studies,” Pandya once told NDTV.

Pandya completed his ninth standard at MK High School and didn’t study after it. The journey was not easy for the Pandya brothers as there were a lot of financial issues. Although, they had a car and people used to question their hardship because of the same.

Hardik Pandya first IPL season

Mumbai Indians scouted Pandya from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Former Indian coach John Wright was the one who spotted the Pandya brothers. Pandya was bought by Mumbai in IPL 2015 auction at his base price of INR 20 lakh.

Pandya was an unknown entity but he still played nine matches in the title-winning campaign. He scored 112 runs at a strike-rate of 180.64 and scalped one wiccet with the ball During the same season, legendary Sachin Tendulkar predicted Pandya to play for Indian team.