Hardik Pandya has scripted a “complete 360-degree turnaround” as he get ready to captain Mumbai Indians (MI) for the second time in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Having announced as MI captain last year, Pandya faced the ire of fans who were unhappy with him replacing Rohit Sharma.
The impact was so severe that MI finished last in the IPL 2024 points table, but Pandya in his typical style kept fighting, winning the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy with the Indian cricket team over the last nine months.
Speaking recently on the turmoil and his successful comeback, Hardik said that his belief in his game and his love for the sport helped him return to the top of his game.
“I realised that no matter what was happening around me, cricket would always be my greatest ally…I kept pushing through, and when all the hard work finally paid off, it was beyond anything I could have scripted. For me, it has always been about never leaving the battlefield. There have been phases in my career where my focus wasn’t necessarily on winning but on surviving and holding my ground,” Pandya told JioHotstar.
Recalling the T20 World Cup win in June 2024, Hardik said that it took just a few months for things to change for him and it seemed as if something was decided in destiny.
“The six-month phase where we won the World Cup, and then the kind of love and support I received upon returning – it was a complete 360-degree turnaround for me. I didn’t know exactly when that would happen, but as they say, destiny had its plan, and in my case, everything changed within two and a half months,” he said.
Mumbai Indians start their IPL 2025 campaign against arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on 23 March at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
