Baroda-born all-rounder Hardik Pandya termed 2015 as the best year he has had in his cricket career so far. Pandya made this statement while speaking to Jatin Sapru in a recent Star Sports interview in front of all his fans, in the run-up to IPL 2024. The latest edition is all set to begin on March 22 onwards with reigning champions Chennai Super Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener.
As we all know, Hardik Pandya, after spending 2 successful years as the captain of the Gujarat Titans, has been transferred back to the IPL first team, the Mumbai Indians. He switched his allegiance from GT to MI just before the mini auctions for IPL 2024 took place at the Coca-Cola Stadium in Dubai. Pandya has returned to the franchise on the condition of replacing Rohit Sharma as captain.
Pandya claims MI’s success in 2015 IPL is the reason he started his career
As anticipation skyrockets, Star Sports is pulling out all the stops to create a strong build-up campaign for this year’s IPL. They called Hardik Pandya for a chat and asked him several questions. He spoke on a variety of topics and also shed light on his first IPL season in 2015.
Pandya at that time was a newcomer and none of us had any idea what he was capable of doing. However, in his debut season, he helped the Mumbai-based team to their second IPL title in 2015, in which he was also adjudged man of the match in the knockouts. While replying to Jatin Sapru, Pandya stated that it was a career-boosting year for him as he was able to contribute on a larger scale and in life and death situations.
“2015, first season, first final, first title you play, tell us about it.” – asked Jatin Sapru.
“Yes, it was very, very special because that was the moment I’m sitting here. Maybe if I hadn’t been there, I couldn’t have been here too. So throughout the season we had, I was fortunate to be able to contribute on a much larger scale where there were knockout games and I was able to contribute. My best memories of 2015 are those two man of the match awards that I won that came in knockouts and also in a life or death situation.” – said Hardik Pandya via Star Sports.
Hardik Pandya recaps IPL 2015
“So at the same time, if I try to sum it all up, then it was the best year of my life because this is where my journey started. And it is only from here that a Gujarati boy who had many dreams was able to continue with his dreams and this is where everything began to materialize. ” – Pandya concluded.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against the 2022 champions Gujarat Titans. The match will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium on March 24.