Sachin Tendulkar is the reason for my immense self-confidence: Hardik Pandya

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has revealed that the belief of Sachin Tendulkar instilled an immense self-confidence him. The youngster has taken International cricket by storm by some whirlwind performances against some of the strongest teams going around. Recently, he won the Man of the Series award in the home series against Australia. He scored 222 runs with the bat and scalped six wickets often providing vital breakthroughs when the team needed.

The 24-year-old first came into the limelight with some amazing hitting in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and then broke into the international scene in a T20I against Australia in January 2016. Soon he made his debut in ODIs and then was included in the Test squad which toured Sri Lanka a few months ago. He played all the matches of the series and also scored a swashbuckling century in the final Test match. He is touted to be a huge find for Indian cricket and will be key in the overseas tours.

I dropped out of school due to money problem

In a chat with NDTV, Hardik Pandya revealed some stunning facts about his life and also said that the belief of Sachin worked wonders for him. “When Sachin sir told me that you will play for India. ‘If you keep playing like this you will play for India in one and half years’. To be honest, when he told me this I was more than happy and not even thinking of playing for India. I thought if Sachin sir is saying something like this, then at least I have something in me. So, it gave me a lot of self-confidence,” he said.

He also informed he dropped out of school after studying until 9th standard due to multiple reasons. “I didn’t leave my studies because of the sport. It’s just that I was not good at it. There were many factors, money was a problem and I was not involved in studies. But I won’t suggest this to the youngsters. When someone has crossed 17-18, I just tell them to study. It’s very simple. Cricket is very difficult reason being a degree stays with you. As cricketers we are here right now, we might be somewhere else the next day,” Pandya added.

Very few of his fans know the fact that the Baroda lad started his career as a leg-spinning all-rounder. But the former state coach N Sanath Kumar spotted the potential in him to become the fast bowling all-rounder. “I stopped bowling leg spin because I got angry. They use to not give me bowling and I use to get angry. So I said I’m not bowling and I’m just going to bat. Then I use to get bored and would go help fast bowlers. One day, it was Sanath Kumar from Bangalore, he was our coach, he made Hardik Pandya as an all-rounder. He saw me in the nets and in 15 days I was bowling in the Ranji Trophy, which was surprising,” he concluded.