Former India cricketers Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina looked highly impressed with Hardik Pandya's fitness in the IPL 2022. The duo lauded the flamboyant all-rounder for his comeback as a pacer in the show-piece tournament.
Raina and Pathan felt that the Gujarat Titans' skipper did well with the ball in their opening game against the other new entrants, Lucknow Super Giants, and believe that he will only get better as the tournament progresses.
For the unversed, it was the first time since the 2019 season of IPL when Pandya twirled his arms in the tournament. The 28-year old last played for India back in the 2021 T20 World Cup, and after that, he took a break from competitive cricket to work on his bowling fitness.
Pandya, who has been appointed as the skipper of the Titans, toiled hard on his fitness and passed the mandatory test at National Cricket Academy before joining his side in IPL 2022.
While speaking during an episode of Cricket Live on Star Sports, former India cricketer Suresh Raina asserted that Pandya's elder brother Krunal Pandya and wife Natasha Stanković have played a massive role in his recovery, providing him with the much-needed confidence.
"The way Hardik Pandya has made his comeback is commendable. In a player's return from injury, his family, especially his wife, has played the most important role, and we could see the happiness on her face when he was bowling.
"His elder brother Krunal has also played a major role in Hardik's recovery and gave him all the confidence he needed. Hardik is looking fit, and he's also generating decent pace with the ball; these are good signs for Gujarat Titans," said Raina while speaking during an episode of Cricket Live on Star Sports.
Meanwhile, former India pacer Irfan Pathan, who was also part of the same conversation, added that the excellent performance of Pandya with both bat and ball would eventually help him in boosting his confidence. At the same time, the 37-year old said Hardik is not putting much strain on his back while releasing the ball, which is a good sign for him.
"The best thing about Hardik Pandya is that he's once again started bowling. You can see that he's not trying to bend a lot while releasing the ball, which means he's not putting a lot of strain on his back, cited Pathan.
"There might be a slight dip in his pace due to this, but bowling two-three good overs at the start of the tournament will give him the confidence to do well, further added the former India all-rounder.
Gujarat have started their IPL 2022 campaign with a victory and are (at the time of writing) facing Delhi Capitals in their second game at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.