Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri have backed me: Hardik Pandya

Crediting captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri for his rapid growth, Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has said that the captain-coach duo and Rohit Sharma, who captains Pandya at Mumbai Indians, have given him the freedom to be on his own.

Pandya was talking to Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.

Pandya feels that the beauty of the current Indian team is that everyone including him is getting immense freedom from captain Virat Kohli to learn and improve.

“Yes, we are making mistakes, even being on our own. But we are learning at a very rapid pace. I see myself two years down the line, being a proper smart cricketer who will know situations on his own. Yes, two-three years I will take to be what I want to be but I think that if I go at the same pace, two years down the line will be one my best years in my cricketer career,” said Pandya.

On being asked how is it like to be playing under an intense captain like Virat Kohli, the 26-year-old said that his mindset is like the captain.

“Virat and I match pretty well. We have the same mindset. We like to take on the opposition. We like to take challenges. To be honest I hate playing in easy situations because I feel my talent is getting waster. I love it when I get that opportunity,” he added.

Pandya was all praise for the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper for backing him during his bad days. “With Virat, he has backed me. I can’t take that away. He and Ravi sir have backed me. I have had my bad days. But I don’t know what they saw in me, but they backed me with all their heart. The sense of security that they gave me, it helped me. That was the reason I started taking decisions on my own,” said Hardik Pandya.