Hardik Pandya‘s personal life, in Ashish Nehra’s opinion, has impacted his personal development. He played with an incredibly sound mind while batting, taking calculated chances against Pakistani pacers who were making things more difficult with their quick bowling. (in the Asia Cup)
Ashish Nehra said, “Yes, even I’ve observed it. And it is necessary. With time and experience, you learn things both as a human being and as a player. Pandya is no different. You might have seen him talking about it.”
“He has said that he has learned different things from different experiences. Now he is married, the father of a kid, and mature. With Agastya’s arrival, he has become calmer and is more focused on his work,” Nehra added.
Nehra on plying with Pandya. “That is great for him and Indian cricket. I played with him in 2016 before I retired. I played with him for 1-2 years in T20s just before my retirement and when his career was just beginning. He has always been hard-working and skilful.”
“He is only 28, he has a lot of time. Now that he has things under his control, he will keep showing us this kind of form, this calmness.”
“Most importantly, people talk. When one does well, people praise them. But some time back, when he was injured and not doing well, people were criticizing his lifestyle. I personally feel no one should talk about what players do off the field. How you prepare yourself and how hard you work on the field, that is more important,” he added.
“People say that Pandya is not a good student. But he should be a good student on the ground, off-field stuff does not matter. You get better with experience. As life progresses, you learn things. And he has been doing that.”
