| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Hardik Himanshu Pandya |
| Nickname | Harry |
| Profession | Cricketer (All-rounder) |
| Physical Stats & More | |
| Height (approx.) | in centimeters– 183 cm in meters– 1.83 m in feet inches– 6’ 0” |
| Eye Colour | Dark Brown |
| Hair Colour | Black |
| Cricket | |
| International Debut | ODI– 16 October 2016 against New Zealand at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India Test– 26 July 2017 against Sri Lanka at Galle, Sri Lanka T20I– 26 January 2016 against Australia at Adelaide, Australia |
| Jersey Number | #228 (India) #228 (Domestic) |
| Domestic/State Team | Baroda, Mumbai Indians, Indian Board Presidents XI |
| Coach/Mentor | Ajay Pawar |
| Batting Style | Right-handed |
| Bowling Style | Right-arm fast-medium |
| Favourite Shot | Straight Drive [1] |
| Records (main ones) | In 2016, he became the top scorer in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 377 runs and 10 wickets. |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 11 October 1993 (Monday) |
| Age (as of 2021) | 28 Years |
| Birthplace | Choryasi, Surat, Gujarat, India |
| Zodiac sign | Libra |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Hometown | Vadodara, Gujarat, India |
| School | MK High School, Baroda |
| Educational Qualification | 9th standard |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Caste | Brahmin |
| Address | A 6,000-square feet penthouse in an apartment, Diwalipura area, Vadodara |
| Hobbies | Travelling, Listening to Music |
| Tattoo(s) | • He has Multiple tattoos on his body.
 • A tattoo of a man holding a child’s hand and below that the date 30.07.2020, the birth date of his son Agastya; the tattoo is inked on his right arm.  |
| Controversies | • In 2019, he, along with KL Rahul, were invited at Karan Johar’s talk show ‘Koffee with Karan.’ The episode stirred controversy due to their sexist comments.
 • Rape-molestation allegation from the wife of Dawood’s aide: In November 2021, Rehnuma Bhati, the wife of one of Dawood Ibrahim’s aides’s, registered a complaint against her husband, Riaz Bhati, cricketers Hardik Pandya and Munaf Patel, and congress leaders Rajeev Shukla and Prithviraj Kothari at Mumbai’s Santacruz police station. In Her complaint, she accused them of rape-molestation. [2] • The customs department seized his imported wrist watches: On 16 November 2021, Pandya took to social media to dismiss reports of custom officials at Mumbai airport seizing his luxury watches. The cricketer refuted reports that claimed that the customs department had sized his two wrist watches worth Rs. 5 crore. Reportedly, the customs officials found that the price of the watches, as per bills submitted, didn’t match the actual value. Pandya tweeted in his defence – “The cost of the watch is approximately ₹1.5 crore and not ₹5 crore as per rumours floating around the social media.” He added, “Early on Monday morning, 15th November, on my arrival from Dubai, after picking up my luggage, I voluntarily went to Mumbai airport customs counter to declare the items brought by me and pay the requisite customs duty. “Wrong perceptions have been floating around on social media regarding my declaration to customs at Mumbai airport, and I would like to clarify about what transpired.” Pandya said he submitted all the documents of the purchased items. “I had voluntarily declared all the items that I had lawfully purchased from Dubai and was ready to pay whatever duties that needed to be paid.” [3] |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Marriage Date | They got married amid the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. [4] |
| Engagement Date | 01-01-2020
 |
| Affairs/Girlfriends | Lisha Sharma (Model)
 Elli AvrRam (Actress)  Natasa Stankovic  |
| Family | |
| Wife/Spouse | Natasa Stankovic (Serbian actress and model)
 |
| Children | Son– Agastya (born in July 2020)
 Daughter– None |
| Parents | Father– Himanshu Pandya (Businessman; died of cardiac arrest on 16 January 2021) Mother– Nalini Pandya  |
| Siblings | Brother– Krunal Pandya (Elder; Cricketer)
 |
| Favourites | |
| Cricketer | Batsmen– Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh Bowler– Harbhajan Singh |
| Cricket Ground | Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai |
| Colour | White |
| Actor | Akshay Kumar |
| Actress(es) | Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor |
| Superhero | Superman |
| Cuisines | Gujarati |
| Football Team | Manchester United Football Club |
| Mobile App | |
| Style Quotient | |
| Car Collection | • Land Rover Range Rover Vogue
 • Audi A6  |
| Money Factor | |
| Salary (as of 2018) | Retainer Fees: Rs 50 lakhs Test Match Fees: Rs 15 lakhs ODI Fees: Rs 6 lakhs T20 Fees: Rs 3 lakhs |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Hardik Pandya
- Does Hardik Pandya smoke?: Yes [5]
- Does Hardik Pandya drink alcohol?: Yes
- Hardik Pandya hails from modest family background.
Hardik Pandya’s childhood picture with his father Himanshu Pandya
- His father is an ardent lover of cricket. During his childhood, his father took him to watch matches in Baroda, after which, he started taking interest in cricket.
- When he was five years old, his family moved from Choryasi, Surat to Gorwa, Baroda and enrolled him in Kiran More International Academy in Baroda, along with his brother, Krunal Pandya, who was seven years old at that time.
- His family lived on lease in Gorwa because of financial issues. They had a second-hand car to travel to the cricket ground.
- Hardik Pandya faced lots of difficulties in his teenage days. His father suffered thrice from the heart attack due to which his father had to quit his job.
Hardik Pandya with his father Himanshu Pandya
- He dropped out of school after ninth standard and started focusing on his cricket career.
- Earlier, he used to play as a leg spinner. In one of the local league matches in Baroda, his team was short of one fast bowler. The former Indian cricketer, Kiran More told him to play as fast bowler and he accepted this task immediately. He surprised everyone with his performance by picking seven wickets in that match. He, then, switched his bowling from leg spinner to medium pacer.
- Kiran More helped him a lot by not charging any fee from him for the first three years in his academy.
- In one of his interviews with the Indian Express, Hardik told that he was removed from his state-age group teams because of his attitude problems. He also said, he was just an expressive child who does not like to hide his emotions.
- He made his T20 debut in 2013 for Baroda against Mumbai. The match was held at Ahmedabad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
- In 2015, John Wright saw great potential in him, so, he selected Pandya in the Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL team at a base price of Rs 10 lakhs.
- In 2016, he got selected to play for the Indian cricket team. He played his first International T20 match against Australia at Adelaide, Australia.
- In 2018, Mumbai Indians bought him at a whopping price of Rs 1 Crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.
- Hardik Pandya’s favourite tattoo out of which he has got inked on his body is ‘Time is Money’ on his arm.
- He is a close friend of Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan.
Hardik Pandya with Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan
- He is often called “West Indian guy from Baroda,” due to his West Indian characteristic and behaviour.
- His best cricketing memory is the last over of India against Bangladesh in 2016 ICC World T20, when Bangladesh needed only 2 runs in 3 balls.
- His teammates fondly call him, Rockstar.
- Hardik Pandya likes to play against Australia.
- He has been featured on the cover of various magazines like Maxim India and The Man.
Hardik Pandya on the ‘Maxim India’ magazine cover
- He used to have a crush on Deepika Padukone.
- Hardik Pandya is an avid dog lover.
Hardik Pandya loves dogs
- On 1 January 2020, Hardik announced his engagement with the Serbian actress and model, Natasa Stankovic, through his Instagram account.
View this post on Instagram
Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. ?? 01.01.2020 ❤️ #engaged
A post shared by Hardik Pandya (@hardikpandya93) on Jan 1, 2020 at 4:02am PST
References
- 1 ↑ Cricket Times
- 2 ↑ ANI
- 3 ↑ The Hindu
- 4 ↑ India Today
- 5 ↑ IndiaToday
