New Delhi: Hardik Pandya reunited with his son Agastya after more than a month and celebrated India’s T20 World Cup win with the three-year-old, the pictures of which went viral on social media. The India all-rounder played a pivotal role in India’s triumphant campaign in USA and West Indies and will be remembered for his historic final over heroics against South Africa in the final. The win also ended India’s ICC title drought after 11 years and brought home a T20 World Cup after 17 years.
Basking in nationwide adoration, Hardik gifted his T20 World Cup winners’ medal to Agastya and savoured the moment. Sharing the pictures on Instagram, Hardik wrote, “My #1! Everything I do, I do for you”. Earlier on Thursday, the whole Indian team met PM Narendra Modi in New Dehli before landing in Mumbai for a victory parade and a felicitation event organised by the BCCI at the Wankhede Stadium.
Remarkably, it was the same venue where Hardik faced boos during IPL 2024 while leading Mumbai Indians. His unwavering determination and dedication to the game have truly reversed his fortunes, earning him well-deserved acclaim.
Hardik’s brother and out-of-contention Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya too congratulated his champion little brother and highlighted how hard it was for him to overcome all the negativity around for the past six months. “It’s almost been a decade since Hardik and I started playing professional cricket. And the last few days have been like a fairy tale that we’ve dreamt off. Like every countryman I’ve lived this through our team’s heroics and I couldn’t be more emotional with my brother being at the heart of it,” wrote Krunal.
During IPL 2024, Hardik faced relentless boos and jeers at the Wankhede Stadium following his surprising return to the Mumbai Indians, a team he had represented from 2015-2020. After two years leading Gujarat Titans, Hardik’s homecoming was marked by the controversial announcement where he replaced Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians skipper.
“The last six months have been the toughest for Hardik. He simply didn’t deserve what he went through, and as a brother, I felt very, very bad for him. From booing, to people saying all kinds of nasty things, at the end of the day, we all forgot that he is just a human being who also has emotions,” added Krunal.
“He somehow passed through all of this with a smile, though I know how hard it was for him to put on a smile. He kept working hard and focusing on what he needed to do to get the World Cup since that was his ultimate objective.” But all the boos and jeers turned into chants of ‘Hardik Hardik’ as he entered the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
Surprisingly, Hardik’s wife, Natasha Stankovic, was absent from the family celebrations. Both Hardik and Natasha have been on headlines for a while after reports of rift between the two came out following the Serbian model’s removal of word ‘Pandya’ from her Instagram handle name.
