The former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh reckons that there has been a significant change in the personality of the Indian allrounder Hardik Pandya and he has become an MS Dhoni kind of personality now where he remains unaffected by most things and keeps himself in a zone where he is calm and composed all the time.
Hardik Pandya recently finished a high-pressure game for India against Pakistan in the group round of Asia Cup 2022 where the required run rate in the last 3 overs for India was more than 10.
Hardik, by hitting three boundaries against Haris Rauf in the penultimate over of the innings, brought the equation down to only 7 in the last over which had to be bowled by the left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, but India got under pressure in the last over again, as the first 3 deliveries yielded just 1 run.
"Hardik Pandya has become an MS Dhoni type of a guy lately. There is a calmness about him when he bats, and that only happens when you have faith in your abilities." – Harbhajan Singh (To Sports Tak)
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) September 2, 2022
Hardik Pandya was as composed as ever when the pressure mounted against Pakistan
But, Hardik Pandya was as composed as ever and when he hit the third ball of the over straight to the extra cover fielder and didn’t get a run, he gestured towards his partner Dinesh Karthik that there’s no need to worry and he had still got the situation under control.
The confidence 😎 .. Hardik Pandya bringing it home for #INDvsPAK #TeamIndia #AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/BgziGI1Eyy
Advertisement— sudhir sharma (@sudhirhp) August 28, 2022
Hardik, as he gestured, got the job done off the very next ball as he smashed a flat six off a back-of-length delivery from Nawaz over the deep-midwicket fence to guide India to a tricky victory.
According to Harbhajan Singh, who was speaking on Sports Tak, a person can be as composed under pressure as Hardik was in that game against Pakistan only when he has complete trust in his skill-set.
And Hardik, at the moment, seems to have complete trust in his game which is why he manages to remain calm and composed. That’s something MS Dhoni used to do as well because he also used to back his ability against any bowler in the world.
