‘Winning World Cup is biggest New Year Resolution’: Hardik Pandya ahead of India’s 1st series in 2023

As the Indian Cricket Team is set to take the field in their first series in 2023 against Sri Lanka, Indian all-rounderHardik Pandya has shared his New Year Resolution. Pandya on Monday stated that the biggest New Year Resolution is to win the World Cup for India. Pandya will lead the Men in Blue in Rohit Sharma’s absence in the T20I series vs Sri Lanka on January 3.

Hardik, who is expected to be a long-term T20 captain going into the 2024 T20 World Cup, feels that one thing that went haywire during the last edition in Australia was a divergent safety-first philosophy during the tournament after an all-out attack before it. “The biggest is to win the World Cup. I don’t think any bigger resolution can be there. Really want to win the World Cup, so we will try to do everything possible in our capacity. To go out there and give everything. I think things are looking bright and let’s hope it is,” the new skipper said on the eve of the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka.

Someone, who is clear in his thought process and eloquent, Hardik didn’t shy away from admitting that tinkering with the approach during T20 World Cup did affect the team. While no names were taken but opener KL Rahul’s defensive approach in big games (save Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) did cost the team dearly. “Before the World Cup, I don’t think we did anything wrong. Our template, our approach, our everything was the same. Just that in the World Cup, things did not go the way we wanted and I think our approach was not exactly what it was before the World Cup,” Hardik in fact said everything without saying much.

The new skipper knows that T20Is aren’t a priority in the ODI World Cup year and they only have six shortest format games (three vs New Zealand after this series) before IPL but going forward, youngsters will get enough chances to feel secure. “We are looking to play in a certain way which we will. Before the IPL, only six games are there. So we don’t have much time to do a lot of things. But, going forward, we will keep creating new plans and see which plans are sticking and which are working for us. And, going forward, make sure that everyone gets ample opportunities,” Hardik said.

For Hardik, every accomplishment of his is due to the enormous hard work he has put in and that resulted in a great 2022 for him in T20 Internationals. “Obviously one year back, things were quite different. When I went out of the sport (because of a lower back stress fracture), that was my call to go out and spend time and get better at it. “It has been a magical year for me, obviously (I) would have liked the World Cup to come with it. But that is part and parcel of life. We tried but it did not happen, but going forward what is next and what do I want to achieve, there is a lot to achieve. I have not achieved anything.”

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