“It’s just his mindset”, Pakistan former players explain the secret behind Hardik’s success

Hardik Pandya has been one of the most consistent all-rounders for India in white-ball cricket for last few years. In the recently concluded Champions Trophy 2025 as well he showed his mettle whenever the side needed him. Be it the semi-final against Australia or the final against New Zealand, he added valuable contributions.

Former Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Hafeez talks about Hardik brings to the table for India whenever he walks out. According to Shoaib Akhtar, Hardik Pandya’s mindset does the job for him. “Hardik Pandya koi Malcolm Marshall ya Waqar Younis nahi hai. Javagal Srinath ya Brett Lee nahi hai. (Hardik is no Marshall, Waqar, Lee or Srinath). It’s just his mindset. You throw him the new ball, he does it. You ask him in to bowl in the middle, he does it. However, he is not that powerful hitter also. He had given that belief that the world is your stage. The market allows you to become big,” Akhtar said on ‘Game on Hai.’

He added, “Aisi hitting, ye hamari team mein aam thhi. (This type of hitting used to be a norm in the Pakistan team) He’s really good, but this was the norm in Pakistan’s team.”

“Abdur Razzaq was better version of Hardik”

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez agreed with Akhtar and on this reminded everyone of Abdur Razzaq. “I would agree with him. You take out the details of Abdul Razzaq’s performances. He was a better and bigger performer. But the system didn’t look after him and the player also didn’t respond that much. He was limited in his skills, didn’t try to outdo his own potential. Whatever I’ve seen of Razzaq, he was better than this version of Hardiik,” Hafeez said.

Akhtar spoke about Razzaq’s unbeaten 109 against South Africa in Dubai in 2010 when he singlehanded won match for Pakistan. “He was asked to open, played in the middle order and sometimes even lower order. He has done everything but he didn’t get the respect until he won a match against South Africa single-handedly. I was at the other end. I defended a full toss and he said ‘don’t lift your bat’. I said I won’t.”

The speedster continued, He was hitting the ball so hard that day that I thought if the ball came towards me, it would go through me. But we didn’t give him the respect, and neither did we give Azhar Mahmood the respect that he deserved. He was a great performer with the ball,” Akhtar said. “’That was the best match that I have seen. We had lost that game mentally and physically but Razzaq won it alone,” Hafeez added.

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