Indian allrounder Hardik Pandya has gained fame with his batting exploits and decent seam bowling. His journey from starting as gully cricketer to becoming a national star is not known to many. To reveal the mystery of his journey, ICC quizzed his fans about his old jersey number 228.
Surprisingly, some fans knew the reason behind the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) players previous jersey number (currently he dons 33 number jersey). The riddle was connected to his initial days of cricket when he was captaining the Baroda Under-16 team.
During the competition in 2009, he scored a blistering double century against Mumbai. Pandya scored 228 off 391 balls at the Reliance Cricket Stadium in Nagothane — a town in Maharashtra.
@hardikpandya7 used to sport a jersey no 228 because when he played for Baroda U-16 team , he had scored 228(1st class highest) against Mumbai when his team was reeling at 60/4. So he use the Same jersey no for his IPL franchise (ironically it is Mumbai)as well as for Team India
— Pradyumna Chakraborty (@PradumnaChakra1) May 21, 2020
Hardik Pandya’s delayed return:
Hardik Pandya was set to make a comeback in the series against South Africa in March, this year. However, because of the outbreak of the coronavirus, his return has been delayed further.
The right-hand batsman sustained an old back injury ahead of the South Africa Test series in Septemeber. He went under surgery in the UK which further extended his break from the cricket.
In February, he was named in India A squad to tour New Zealand to play one-dayers but was declared unfit by Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy (NCA). He then featured in the DY Patil Tournament for Reliance 1 with Bhvuneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan. The flamboyant cricketer played some bewitching knocks.
In normal circumstances, he would have been playing for Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, but the global pandemic has made the future uncertain.