Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was the superstar of India’s T20 World Cup victory, opened up on the challenging six months leading up to the marquee event and said throughout previous months public booed him but the 30-year-old never lost calm, giving a reply with his performance.
Pandya reflected on the last six months and revealed that he had not lost his temper once when things were going wrong, which was precisely why the victory felt all the more meaningful.
Mumbai Indians (MI) supporters and social media trolls had been very harsh to Pandya during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
MI brought back Pandya after a his two-year stint with Gujarat Titans (GT), which involved winning the title in their debut season in 2022, but replacing Rohit Sharma as a captain led to massive social media backlash for the all-rounder and franchise. Pandya was booed in stadiums all over India during his matches.
During an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence on Thursday, Pandya said that India were calm throughout the game and always believed that they could win. Despite being trolled mercilessly during the Indian Premier League, on a personal and professional level, he produced what may have been the World Cup-winning moment when he removed Heinrich Klaasen.
“The last 6 months have been very entertaining for me, there have been a lot of ups and downs and the public booed me. A lot of things happened and I always felt that if I give any answer, it would be through sports…
So I believed that I would stay strong, will work hard,” Hardik Pandya said during an interaction with PM Modi at the Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi.
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah got his hands on his first ICC World Cup trophy after India’s success in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa in Barbados. During his interaction with PM Modi, the pacer said bowling in crucial and difficult situations helped him gain confidence that he carry forward.
“Whenever I bowl for India, I bowl in very crucial stages. Whenever the situation is difficult, I have to bowl in that situation. So I feel very good when I am able to help the team and if I am able to win the match from any difficult situation, then I get a lot of confidence and I carry that confidence forward as well.
And especially in this tournament, there were many situations where I had to bowl tough overs and I was able to help the team and win the match,” Bumrah said.
On Thursday, after the Indian team left the national capital and arrived in Mumbai, the Rohit Sharma-led team kicked off the open-top bus parade from Marine Drive. Fans turned up in numbers, danced to the tune of India’s success, and celebrated the arrival of the T20 World Cup-winning team.
Throughout the parade, players were seen lifting the coveted trophy high in the air and appreciating the support that the fans showed throughout the tournament.
The love of the fans to see their team was clearly visible when some of them climbed on the tree and cheered for the team as the bus went past them.
Once the victory parade ended and the team arrived at the Wankhede Stadium, the Indian cricket players danced to the tunes of ‘dhol’ with fans cheering for them. (ANI)
