Hardik Pandya: The kid who rose from streets to stardom

Body tattoos, flashy bling and fancy hairstyles: Hardik Pandya radiates his presence by living life king size.

But before life’s abundance, compliments and accolades descended on his doorsteps, he and his family were on a rough path, one filled with financial instability.

Much like some of the most inspiring background tales rooted within modern-day cricketing folklore, Pandya also has a Cinderella story to tell.

Born in a Gujarat winter of 1993 to a cricket enthusiast, Hardik became the younger brother to Krunal Pandya. Their father, Himanshu Pandya, ran a small car finance business in Surat in the early 90s. Ultimately, he abandoned the business in 1998 to move to Vadodara to focus on the cricketing upbringing of his two sons. The move, however, also rendered his family financially weaker.

Despite the crisis, Himanshu enrolled his two sons at the Kiran More Cricket Academy in Vadodara, where they made rapid gains and enhanced their skill sets to the best of their potential.

Legend has it, the dynamic all-rounder we have all come to know and admire today could not even afford a cricket kit back then.

Overcoming financial hurdles and “attitude problems”, as dubbed by his brother, Hardik made headline acts across club cricket and state age-group games with his match-winning specials.

His natural flair finally got recognised by the talent agents of the Baroda Cricket Association.

The magnitude of this breakthrough was such that a young Hardik made his T20, First-Class and List A debuts, all within a year-and-a-half for Baroda. But the day of reckoning arrived on February 16, 2015, as IPL bigwigs gathered at an extravagant auction ceremony. 

On that day, the Mumbai Indians management decided to exploit the untapped potential of a still-relatively-unknown Hardik. The franchise added the Baroda talent to their star-studded squadron, including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh.

With no bidding competition from other franchises, they purchased the player at his base price.

While the Moneyball decision of the team management turned out to be one of the most successful signings in the tournament’s history, the moment also changed the fortunes of the Pandya family forever.

Hardik’s stock suddenly went up by ten lakhs, the amount he earned in the first three years he spent at the Mumbai Indians camp.

Proving his mettle with bat and ball for three successive years, the cricketer’s worth rose 110 times in 2018, as he bagged an 11 crore deal for a new three-year contract. Following a triumphant seven-year partnership with them, Pandya and the franchise respectfully decided to part ways.  

The cricketer returned to his roots by joining a new team emerging from his home state Gujarat, the Gujarat Titans. The new franchise gave him an additional leadership role after signing him up for a staggering fee of 15 crores.

And boy, did he make the investment count!

Throughout the two-month event, Pandya piled up runs with the bat, troubled batters with the ball, and outsmarted opponents as a newly-appointed captain of a newly-inducted team. Amidst tough T20 competition from existing sides with 15 years of IPL experience, he rallied his unit to lift the trophy that capped a campaign for the ages.

The burly all-rounder has garnered nearly 60 crores from IPL deals. Lucrative salaries from IPL and BCCI aside, the cricketer also rakes in the heavy bucks from exquisite brand endorsements.

From once struggling to own a cricket kit to becoming the gaze of a billion cheering eyes today, Hardik has embodied the polar ends of a human spectrum. This cricket fan certainly wishes more success stories for the maverick all-rounder and hopes his rags-to-riches tale can inspire the coming generations.