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After leading the Gujarat Titans (GT) to the Indian Premier League (IPL) final twice and winning the title in their debut season, Hardik Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians (MI). The franchise announced Pandya as their captain replacing Rohit Sharma which raised a few eyebrows. The all-rounder who twisted his ankle during the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 clash against Bangladesh recently made his return by playing for Reliance in the DY Patil T20 tournament. While millions of fans are excited in anticipation of how Pandya leads MI in the upcoming season, the Baroda all-rounder made a few surprising statements.
Pandya appeared on Star Sports Show 'Star Nahi Far' and recounted his journey at MI where he started his IPL career and then played international cricket. In the quiz round of the show, the crowd was asked about Pandya's statistics in the tournament. After answering Pandya's highest score in IPL, they were asked about the number of half-centuries he has scored. Surprisingly, the crowd could not answer it correctly.
However, when the correct answer 10 was announced, it left Pandya surprised as he exclaimed 'I have that many? Wow'. Then he was asked about his favourite knock to which he answered, “I don't like the innings where we lost.”
Pandya was shown one of the contenders for his best IPL knocks. He skipped the 21-ball 60 against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020 as MI lost that match. "I don't believe in 50s or 100s. Stats are just numbers; it's a waste of time," he said.
Pandya’s blockbuster return against Titans
Pandya will return to MI and Ahmedabad at the same time. MI's opening match is scheduled to be played on March 24 (Sunday) against his former franchise Gujarat Titans (GT) which will be led by Shubman Gill. It will be interesting to see how the Ahmedabad crowd welcomes their former captain.
Pandya’s IPL numbers
The 30-year-old who made his IPL debut in 2015 has scored 2,309 runs from 123 games at an average of 30.38 including 10 half-centuries. His strike rate is an impressive 145.86. With the ball, he has 53 wickets. The pacer has conceded runs at an economy rate of 8.80 runs per over.
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