India‘s all-rounder and hero of T20 world cup, Hardik Pandya has received a very grand welcome on his return to his hometown Vadodara in Gujarat. Hardik took the wicket of South African batsman David Miller in the last over, which turned the tables of the match and became a very important thing for Hardik because the last 6 months were very difficult for him.
Recently Hardik is seen wearing India’s blue jersey waving to the crowd along with his brother Krunal. Hardik was standing on top of a vehicle with a poster saying Hardik Pandya, Pride of Vadodara.
Vadodara City gave a warm welcome to its World Cup winning son as a large number of fans attended the roadshow related to all-rounder’s comeback. Pandya was returning to his hometown on the occasion of his birthday after playing a big role in India’s T20 World Cup winning campaign. India’s vice-captain performed brilliantly with both bat and ball throughout the tournament and picked up the wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller and scored a hat-trick in the last over.
Hardik Pandya has become the latest member of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team to receive a grand welcome back home. He was given a rousing welcome by an army of fans in Vadodara on Monday. Pandya was instrumental in India ending a decade-long wait for an ICC title. He bowled a heroic final over in the final against South Africa in Barbados, successfully defending 16 runs off six balls to guide the Men in Blue to a thrilling seven-run win.
After celebrating India’s second T20 World Cup title with the rest of the team at an open-top bus parade and a felicitation ceremony in Mumbai and later attending the Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant wedding in the city, Pandya was greeted in Vadodara with a massive crowd – up to 3.5 lakh as per reports – waving the tricolour and chanting his name.
Hardik was seen wearing the Indian jersey along with brother Krunal, who is an all-rounder and has represented India in five ODIs and 19 T20 Internationals. The two were in an open-top bus, similar to the one used for the Indian team’s celebratory parade at Mumbai’s iconic Marine Drive on Thursday, July 4.
The 30-year-old uploaded a video on his official handle, with fans excited over the arrival of their hometown hero, who played a decisive role in India’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign in the West Indies and the United States. The all-rounder silenced his biggest critics with his performance in the T20 showpiece event as he contributed with both bat and ball and helped India lift the trophy for the second time in their history.
KEEPING FAITH IN HARDIK
Meanwhile, Pandya was cheered by fans travelling to the stadium and those watching from afar online. It is a far cry from the booing that greeted him at home during the IPL. The hostility he faced following Mumbai’s decision to make him captain in place of Rohit and their poor results was unpredictable.
It prompted former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to speak out in Pandya’s defence, while former player Sanjay Manjrekar admonished fans to “behave properly”. Cricket experts speculated as to why the hostility flared up. In his initial seven-year stint with Mumbai, Pandya was part of the team that won four IPL titles, before he moved to captain Gujarat Titans in 2022.
He led them to victory in his debut tournament and the following year the Titans finished runners-up to Chennai Super Kings. But when Pandya was traded back to Mumbai and made captain ahead of IPL 2024, many fans saw the move as an insult to Rohit, who captains India in all three formats at the international level. The matter was not publicly addressed by Pandya, Rohit or Mumbai head coach Mark Boucher, deepening suspicions and fuelling rumour mills.
Mumbai finished the season at the bottom of the table with four wins from 14 matches, with Pandya’s individual figures of 216 runs at an average of 18.00 and 11 wickets at 34.18 doing little to appease critics.
Still, the BCCI kept faith in the all-rounder and selected him for India’s T20 World Cup squad under Rohit’s captaincy. Despite his poor performance in the IPL, it wasn’t hard to understand why this happened.
Now the Indian team will focus on their next tour which is the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka in late July, where Hardik Pandya is likely to captain the team’s T20I matches.
The Indian team will play a three-match T20I series followed by a three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka, which will also be Gautam Gambhir’s first tour after being appointed as the head coach of the Indian team.
The tour will begin on July 27 and end on August 4. The teams for the tour have not been announced yet but are expected to be announced soon.
Pandya will once again play a vital role in the long run as the team prepares itself for the future of the ICC players where they will be looking to win everything and the contribution of Pandya will play a big role in determining their fate in the future.
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