I would love to be around MS Dhoni all the time, says Hardik Pandya

It can never be said with 100% certainty if Dhoni believes in concepts such as larger fairness or destiny. He, after all, sought to take all emotion out of his cricket and made himself one of the finest and astute readers of the game. It may seem surprising because he bats with an unorthodox style and came from the cricketing backwaters of Jharkhand. His calm nature rubbed into the team more often than not and created a fearsome group of cricketers. Hardik Pandya attested to it and stated that he would always love to be around MS Dhoni while adding that Virat Kohli is a completely different character than his predecessor. 

“MS was someone who didn’t talk much and let us do what we loved to do. He never changed my game. Dhoni was someone who was very important to me as I was raw, I was learning. That was the time where with my personality, I had to evolve. And he gave me the time to understand my role. With Virat, it’s different. Virat backed me big time even when my days were not good, when I was not performing well and eventually I succeeded,” Pandya told Times Now website.

“MS Dhoni from India is my favourite cricketer. Overseas I would say AB de Villiers. I love to watch the way he bats, the way he carries himself, the way he fields. MS is someone I don’t even need to speak about. I love to be around him. I love to learn from him and Virat as well. The hard work he does. One thing I would love to take from Virat is consistency. The discipline he has in his life for the game is fantastic. And MS is different as well. He is still the same guy after achieving so much."

Whenever Rohit Sharma has led India in the absence of Virat Kohli, he has presented himself as a very good tactician. He asked his players to express themselves and the three trophies that he won has been a testimony to it. While lavishing praise for both Dhoni and Kohli, Pandya also had words of praise for his IPL skipper.

"Rohit is someone who is fantastic. He doesn’t make you feel that he is the captain. He lets you do what you want to do. He is chilled out. All three are different but fantastic in their areas. I love playing under them. If MS was not there, it would have been a different story with my life. Virat is someone who has helped me grow big time and I have grown my career with Rohit,” the all-rounder said.