Hardik Pandya captures IPL heartbreak to unexpected 'Hardik' chants at Wankhede in tear-jerking 'comeback' post

Days after celebrating India's historic T20 World Cup victory, where he played a pivotal role in the final against South Africa in Barbados on June 29, all-rounder Hardik Pandya shared an emotional social media post encapsulating his comeback journey over the nine months. The short clip shared on his Instagram handle highlighted the setback he incurred over the last few months and how he overcame the difficulties to help India end their 11-year ICC trophy drought with a second T20 World Cup win.

The clip, captioned: “Make your comeback greater than your setback. Always,” included the ankle injury he incurred in October last year during the 2023 ODI World Cup, after which he was ruled out, followed by his struggle in the Mumbai Indians camp, both on and off the field. But he eventually bounced back with an all-round brilliance in the T20 World Cup tournament.

The video also included the part where Wankhede broke into an unexpected 'Hardik' chant, when India captain Rohit Sharma hailed the all-rounder for his heroics in the World Cup final, just a month after the same venue was targeted the Mumbai Indians captain with boos and jeers.

Despite the setbacks in the last nine months, Hardik put it all behind with a stunning show in the T20 World Cup, where one of his best performances came in the final, against South Africa, where he dismissed the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen before picking two wickets in the final over to successfully defend 16 runs as India won by seven runs. Overall, he scored 144 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 151.57, which included a half-century and picked up 11 wickets in eight games at an economy rate of 7.64 throughout the tournament.

Hardik is currently on a break from international cricket, but will likely return to action for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, which begins later this month. With Rohit Sharma having retired from the T20I format, Hardik is expected to take over the captaincy duties in the format when India face Sri Lanka for three T20Is. He will also likely be part of the three-match ODI series that follows, which will mark the beginning of India's preparations for the 2025 Champions Trophy.