Hardik Pandya, the leg spinner a coach turned into a match-winning pace all-rounder
Until he was 18, Hardik Pandya bowled leg spin. A Baroda coach named Sanath Kumar pushed him toward fast bowling instead, and the switch produced something India rarely had: a seamer who could also bat. He later became the first fast-bowling all-rounder to reach 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in T20 internationals.
Born on 11 October 1993 in Choryasi, near Surat in Gujarat, Pandya grew up in a family that bet everything on cricket. His father Himanshu closed a small car finance business and moved to Vadodara when Hardik was five, so that his sons could train at Kiran More's academy. Money was short. The family rented a flat in Gorwa, and the boys got around in a second-hand car. Age-group selectors in his state dropped him for what he later called attitude problems, though he described himself as simply an expressive child who never hid how he felt.
Baroda gave him a first-class home from 2013, and he helped them lift the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2013–14. In January 2016 he hit eight sixes in an unbeaten 86 against Vidarbha. Mumbai Indians had already signed him in 2015, and he stayed until 2021. Released before the 2022 mega auction, he was picked up by the new Gujarat Titans as captain and led them to the title at the first attempt, something no captain had managed since Shane Warne in 2008. His return to Mumbai in November 2023, replacing Rohit Sharma as skipper, went badly: home fans booed him, and the side finished bottom with 4 wins from 14.
India first picked him for a T20 international on 27 January 2016, at 22, and he took 2 wickets against Australia. Against England on 8 July 2018 he claimed 4 for 38, then made 33 not out and finished the game with a six. Almost exactly four years later, at Southampton, he scored 51 from 33 balls and took 4/33 in one match.
His biggest night came at the 2024 T20 World Cup, where as vice-captain he took 11 wickets overall and removed Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in the final before bowling its last over. Afterwards he rose to number 1 in the T20I all-rounder rankings, a first for an Indian. In Tests, his maiden hundred came at Pallekele in 2017, reached just before lunch, including 26 runs in a single over.
Source: Hardik Pandya
