“I’ll Never be Able to Fill MS’ Shoes”: Hardik Pandya

India all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been out of action in recent times due to injury, is all set to return in the team. He is one of the vital cogs of India – be it batting, bowling or fielding. His presence will play a major role in the T20 World Cup 2020. However, he said that he wouldn’t be able to fill the shoes of former India captain MS Dhoni in the Indian team.

Pandya’s hard-hitting ability, ability to bowl well in the death overs are important for India. While speaking to India Today Consulting Editor, Sports, Boria Majumdar, he talked about this. He further shared that replacing MS Dhoni for the finisher’s role is not possible for him.

Hardik Pandya on MS Dhoni

“I’ll never be able to fill MS’ shoes, so I don’t even think that way. I’m quite excited about the challenge, to be honest. Whatever I do, it will be always for the team you know. It will be one step at the ladder and slowly-slowly that Cup will be there!” Pandya said.

2019 did not go well for the star all-rounder. He had faced a lot of criticism for his sexist comments on the show “Koffee with Karan”. KL Rahul accompanied him there and they both had faced show-cause notices by the BCCI as well. According to BCCI Ombudsman DK Jain, they had to pledge Rs 1 lakh each, to the widows of 10 constables in paramilitary forces who lost their lives while on duty. Moreover, they also have been fined 20 lakhs each.

Along with this, they couldn’t play in the Australia tour after the incident. However, both Pandya and KL Rahul apologised and accepted the punishment without any further question.

“We as cricketers did not know what was going to happen. The ball was not in my court, it was in some else’s court where they had to take the shot and that’s a very vulnerable place you don’t want to be,” Pandya said about that incident.