Gautam Gambhir eulogizes Hardik Pandya: Former Indian opening batsman seemed highly impressed with MI all-rounder’s performance.
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Former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has given the impression of being highly impressed with India and Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya. In his latest column for Times of India, Gambhir eulogized Hardik Pandya for his stellar all-round performance in IPL 2019.
A vital cog in the wheel in Mumbai Indians’ title-winning journey this season, Pandya scored 402 runs in 16 matches at an average of 44.66 and a strike rate of 191.42. He might have scored a solitary half-century but was instrumental in playing several impact-generating innings.
Other than his batting, Pandya also bowled 42.3 overs in IPL 2019, dismissing 14 batsmen at an average of 27.85, an economy rate of 9.17 and a strike rate of 18.21.
Gautam Gambhir eulogizes Hardik Pandya
Apart from just praising Pandya, Gambhir also laid accolades to Mumbai Indians. The southpaw, who recently contested for General Elections in the country, credited the franchise for the way they reacted to Pandya’s appearance on Koffee With Karan earlier this year.
“Another bit that stands out for me is how Mumbai identifies their talent pool. The Pandyas are an example. They were picked out of nowhere and developed into a real force.
“Honestly, I was worried how the Mumbai team management would react to Hardik’s talk show fiasco. Team owners can be very sensitive to such things but all credit to them for how the whole thing was handled,” Gambhir wrote in his column.
Gambhir, who retired from all forms of cricket last year, believed that Hardik never seemed out of confidence throughout the season. “Hardik never seemed out of depth or out of confidence, I am not advocating what he said on the talk show, I am merely stating that Hardik and important stakeholders in his life handled the whole thing really well,” he added.
