Not Sachin, not Kohli – Hardik Pandya names a domestic stalwart as his favourite cricketer

Hardik Pandya is the quintessential modern-day cricketer. He exudes confidence, wants to be in the game, take the attack to the opposition and never take a step back. After having led Gujarat Titans to their maiden IPL title in their debut season itself, there are a lot of good vibes around him as a player. Ahead of India’s T20I series against South Africa, a lot of focus will be on Pandya – the all-round cricketer that Indian cricket wants.

During his career so far, he has shared the dressing room with several legends of the game and while he admires the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Jacques Kallis, the Baroda lad has named Wasim Jaffer as his favourite cricketer growing up.

“Like everyone, I had favourite cricketers. I liked Jacques Kallis, Virat, Sachin sir. There are so many greats that you can’t pick. My favourite cricketer was actually Wasim Jaffer. I used to love watching him bat. Someone I always placed above other legends. Somehow, I used to copy his batting, but I was never able to get his class,” he said in a recent SG podcast.

Wasim Jaffer, who has made quite a name for himself on Twitter, was a giant in India’s domestic circuit. He played at a time when Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman formed the backbone of the Indian side. In the 31 Tests he played for India, he scored 1,944 runs, including five centuries and 11 fifties. He also has two double-centuries to his name, which includes his best of 212 against West Indies in 2006.

As far as his numbers in first-class cricket is concerned, Jaffer remains a notch above the rest. He is the highest run-scorer in Ranji Trophy cricket and surpassed Amol Muzumdar to become the first batter to score score 11,000 runs in the competition.

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