Checking his mobile phone and reading all the congratulatory messages, Hardik Pandya walked into the press-conference hall with a smiling visage.
Having destroyed Sri Lanka’s morale with a pulsating ton in the third Test, the India all-rounder spoke on topics ranging from that one over of mayhem against Malinda Pushpakumara to the obvious comparisons with the legendary Kapil Dev. Excerpts:
The scintillating 26-run over: It just happened. Honestly I didn’t want to go all out in that over but I don’t know what happened. Maybe I was connecting pretty well, (and I thought) let me try this over and scored 26. It obviously feels good. From there I saw the scoreboard and I was batting on 80 and I was like, wow! I was in the zone.
I usually don’t look at the scoreboard, I just focus on how I can help the innings progress.
Spread field, opportunities galore: Could there have been a bigger opportunity than that? Nine wickets were down and I knew, if stay in the crease and connect the ball, it would go for six. Even if I were to mis-hit, I had no choice. It was an ideal opportunity and obviously there was the team’s goal, which was then the 400-run target and we scored close to 490.
Celebration style: Before the first day of this game, Shikhar (Dhawan), KL (Rahul) and I were sitting and we were like ‘if he (Dhawan) scores a hundred he will celebrate in this manner’. He scored a 100 and he did it. Last night I said that ‘if do something nice today, I will celebrate the same way’.
The next Kapil Dev: It feels good if someone (selection committee chairman M.S.K. Prasad) compares you with such legends. My focus is to become what I can become. Even if I can be 10% of what he (Kapil) was, I will be pretty happy.
Seamlessly moving across formats: You practise according to the format. If I play T20, I hit. If play one-day cricket, I hit. And if I get the chance in Tests, I hit.
The runs before the 100: For the first time in my life, I had no butterflies. When I bat, I don’t think about my score.
The one thing I learned from Mahi bhai (M.S. Dhoni) is that you always put your team ahead and play accordingly.
Bowling: In Ranji Trophy, you might get helpful wickets where you get a five-wicket haul in 10 overs but in Tests, it is different. You need to make sure you bowled disciplined-lines and play on the patience of the batsmen.