Former pacer Ashish Nehra opines on Hardik Pandya, explains reason behind Team India star's success

Hardik Pandya has become the man of the season. Hardik returned to competitive cricket in IPL 2022, after the 2021 T20 World Cup, and ended with 487 runs along with eight wickets and led the debutants Gujarat Titans (GT) to their maiden IPL title.

Since then, there has been no looking back for the 28-year-old star all-rounder. Hardik has won games for India at regular intervals -- in the home South Africa T20Is, during the away series versus England and West Indies -- and was also the star performer for Rohit Sharma & Co. during their Asia Cup opener, versus Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday (August 28).

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While Hardik is performing in all departments, he is looking fit and also growing as a leader. The star cricketer's calm and composed nature is being hailed all across the cricketing fraternity. His confident nod to non-striker Dinesh Karthik just before hitting the winning shot versus Pakistan went viral, with many lauding his calmness and comparing it with MS Dhoni.

Recently, Hardik's GT coach and former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra opined on his success and told in an interaction with ICC, "Yes, even I've observed it. And it is necessary. With time and experience, you learn things both as a human being and as a player. Pandya is no different. You might have seen him talking about it. He has said that he has learned different things from different experiences. Now he is married, father of a kid, and matured. With Agastya's arrival, he has become more calm and is more focused on his work," he added.

Hardik's form is a huge asset for India going ahead into the 2022 T20 World Cup. For now, he will be eager to guide India to the Asia Cup championship before the action moves to the ICC event, to be held from October-November in Australia.