‘I don’t focus on my comeback’: Hardik Pandya opens up on his national team return

Hardik Pandya has been instrumental in Gujarat’s brilliant performance in the Indian T20 League 2022. He has been consistent with the bat in hand and has played some important knocks for the teams coming out to bat at number three. The debutants in the tournament have already secured six wins from their seven matches and are just two more wins away from securing a place in the playoffs of the tournament.

In their latest outing against Kolkata, Pandya scored a half-century, his third consecutive for the season. Besides, his brilliant batting exploits, he has also been contributing significantly with the bowl in hand. Seeing his all-round presence in the tournament so far, fans and experts reckon that the all-rounder will soon be making a comeback to the Indian national team.

While speaking on the same during the post-match press conference, Pandya said that he is more focused on the assignments in the tournament than his national comeback.

“I don’t think it’s my comeback anyway and secondly, I don’t focus on my comeback. I focus on the game which I play. At the moment, I am playing ITL and will focus on ITL, then will where the future takes. It’s never in my hands now. I focus on the team which I’m playing in. We are doing well and I’m very happy,”- said Hardik Pandya.

Speaking of Hardik’s latest performance in the Indian T20 League 2022, in Gujarat’s last match against Kolkata on 23^rd April, he played a brilliant knock of 67 runs off 49 deliveries. On the back of his knock, Gujarat posted a total of 156 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Gujarat defended their total successfully as the likes of Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan did a brilliant job with the ball. Hardik’s team won the match by eight runs and went to the top of the points table.

While talking about how he is handling captaincy of the team, Hardik said- “Captaincy obviously helps. I’m always a cricketer who loves to take responsibility. I have a bit of understanding of the game having batted for so many years. You’re successful because you have an understanding of the game. Having played so many matches, I’m able to use my experience. So far, so good.”