Hardik Pandya

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hardik Pandya

• Does Hardik Pandya smoke?: Yes ^[6]IndiaToday
  

• Does Hardik Pandya drink alcohol?: Yes

• Hardik Pandya hails from modest family background.

  

• 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.

  

• 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.

  

• 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.

  

• He used to have a crush on Deepika Padukone.

• Hardik Pandya is an avid dog lover.

  

• 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

• Ahead of the 2024 IPL, the Mumbai Indians management announced Hardik Pandya as their captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. However, the MI fans were not happy with the replacement, and Pandya was heavily trolled for commanding Rohit Sharma under his captaincy during mathces.

• On 8 April 2024, the Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai Police arrested his stepbrother Vaibhav Pandya for cheating Hardik Pandya and his brother Krunal Pandya for Rs. 4 crore. In 2021, Hardik, Krunal, and Vaibhav started a polymer business in partnership in which Hardik and Krunal infused 40% of capital each, while Vaibhav infused 20% capital. Later, Vaibhav started his own firm in the same business without informing the Pandya brothers which caused them a loss of around Rs. 4 crores. ^[7]The Economic Times

• In May 2024, his wife, Natasa, dropped the ‘Pandya’ surname from her Instagram account following which netizens started speculating about their separation. The media also reported that Natasa might claim 70% of Hardik’s property as a part of the legal settlement.

• In June 2024, Natasa restored wedding pictures with Hardik Pandya on Instagram amid the separation rumour between the two.

• In November 2024, he was seen wearing a custom-made “World Champion” ring as a tribute to India’s victory over South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 finals.

  

• Reports circulated in July 2025 that he and Jasmin Walia had decided to end their relationship and part ways.

• In September 2025, Hardik was speculated to be dating an actor and model named Mahieka Sharma.

• Rumours about Hardik and Mahieka started after pictures of them together circulated on Instagram and Reddit. The speculation grew when they were seen wearing matching bathrobes in separate Instagram Stories.