"He was unplayable as a leg-spinner and a surprise for everyone"- Ex-Indian cricketer's big statement on Hardik Pandya's bowling

Hardik Pandya has not established himself as one of the premium all-rounders in world cricket. He is equally good with both the bat and the ball. And he has shown that in the recently concluded edition of the Indian Premier League, where he led his team, Gujarat Titans, to the title triumph and also performed brilliantly.

Hardik scored 487 runs in 16 matches at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.27, including four half-centuries. In addition, he took 8 wickets at an economy rate of 7.28, including a match-winning spell of 3/3 in the finals against the Rajasthan Royals.

His performance helped him to make his comeback to the Indian side after a gap of more than one year. He had a decent series against South Africa with his bat and ended up as the third highest run-scorer in the series. Hardik scored 117 runs at an average of 58.50 and a strike rate of 153.95.

Now he will lead the Indian side against the T20Is in Ireland on June 26 and June 28. So, it will not be a wrong statement to say that he has come a long way and is one of the prime member for the team looking for the upcoming World Cup in Australia.

However, former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Kiran More has revealed a story about the early days of the all-rounder. In a discussion on "Architects in White," a docu-series on Star Sports, Kiran said that Hardik came as a surprise to everyone when he joined his academy in Baroda.

He said that the all-rounder started his career as a batsman who could bowl leg-spin as well. The ex-cricketer also said that later he started bowling quickly and was bowling at a high speed of 135 -140 kph at the nets and was unplayable for everyone.

Kiran concluded, "He was unplayable in the nets and a surprise for everyone. Who is this quick bowler, bowling at 135-140 kph – was the question on everyone’s mind. He was trying to bowl quicker and quicker."

Speaking of Hardik, he has played a total of 133 games for India across the format. He has scored 2488 runs including a century and 11 half-centuries. He has also picked 57 ODIs, 42 T20Is and 17 Test wickets.