NEW DELHI: “This too shall pass,” said India vice-captain Hardik Pandya, conceding that he has been going through a tough phase in his cricketing career but at the same time vowed to come back stronger through hard work and going back to the basics.
Hardik had a really tough time in the recently concluded IPL, where he led five-time champions Mumbai Indians for the first time in the league and the franchise finished last in the season after registering 10 defeats in 14 matches.
And along with a poor outing as a leader, Hardik — the batter and bowler — too were disappointing as he scored just 216 runs at a lowly average of 18 and picked up 11 wickets.
The 30-year-old has also been reportedly going through tough times in personal life with rumours surrounding his split with wife Natasa Stankovic.
Hardik said good and bad phases come and go and he is following the same routines he used to follow earlier.
“I believe you have to stay in the battle. Sometimes life puts you in situations where things are tough, but I believe that if you leave the game or the field, the battle that is, you won’t get what you want from your sport, or the results you are looking for,” Hardik said in an interview with Star Sports.
“So, yeah, it has been difficult, but at the same time, I have been process-driven, I have tried to follow the same routines I used to follow earlier.
“At the same time these things happen; there are good times and bad times, these are phases that come and go. That is fine. I have gone through these phases many times and I will come out of it as well.”
“I don’t take my successes too seriously. Whatever I have done well, I have forgotten about them immediately and moved forward. Same with difficult times,” he said. “I don’t run away from it. I face everything with [my] chin up.
The all-rounder said that his 16-year-old self is his biggest motivator and believes that while coming out of the bad phase, it all comes down to self-belief.
“As they say, this too shall pass. So coming out [of these phases] is simple: just play the sport, accept that [you need to] maybe get better at your skillset, keep working hard – hard work never goes to waste – and keep smiling.”
“I think it comes down to self-belief. I believe a lot in hard work. You can succeed only if you put in the effort for it. I want to give myself the opportunity to… why do I prepare and commit myself every time? The only reason is that while I am not guaranteed success, I am guaranteed an opportunity to be successful. I focus simply on how do I keep getting better. Speak to myself. Try to know my real version.
“Hardik Pandya right now at 30 is a much, much easier job compared to what Hardik Pandya was when I was 16. So I go back to the 16-year-old and I ask him how did you do it, why did you do it? At that point of time, I didn’t have facilities or opportunities. Hard work gave me opportunities and opened doors for me. So I am in that zone right now [where] I am going and asking the 16-year-old – because he is my actual motivator, because if that guy hadn’t set the platform I probably wouldn’t have been here.”
In the T20 World Cup warm-up against Bangladesh on Saturday, Hardik showed glimpses of his return to form as he fired a solid 23-ball unbeaten 40. He also grabbed a wicket in the game in New York.