Hardik Pandya on MS Dhoni: The Indian all-rounder was wax lyrical about not just Dhoni but his other Indian captains as well.
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India all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been recalled to the Indian test side midway during the ongoing tour of Australia, was recently vocal about all three captains under whom he has played international cricket – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
The 25-year old cricketer mentioned that he has learnt a lot under all three of them despite each one of them being different from one another. In an interview with Times Now, Pandya said that Dhoni gave him the time to understand his role in the Indian team.
“MS was someone who didn’t talk much and let us do what we loved to do. He never changed my game. Dhoni was someone who was very important to me as I was raw, I was learning. That was the time where with my personality, I had to evolve. And he gave me the time to understand my role,” he said of Dhoni, under whom he made his limited-overs debut.
Pandya credited Kohli for backing him in his bad days. Speaking about Kohli, he was quoted, “With Virat, it’s different. Virat backed me big time even when my days were not good, when I was not performing well and eventually I succeeded.”
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Talking about Sharma, Pandya added that he is someone who gives you the freedom to express yourself on the field. “Rohit is someone who is fantastic. He doesn’t make you feel that he is the captain. He lets you do what you want to do. He is chilled out. All three are different but fantastic in their areas,” he added.
On being asked about his favourite cricketer, Pandya gave the title to Dhoni and former South Africa captain AB de Villiers. “MS Dhoni from India is my favourite cricketer. Overseas I would say AB de Villiers. I love to watch the way he bats, the way he carries himself, the way he fields. MS is someone I don’t even need to speak about. I love to be around him,” Pandya concluded.
Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Pandya below: