Hardik Pandya has hailed India A coach Rahul Dravid for helping him revive his international career after a few disappointments in 2016 saw him out of the Indian team.
Pandya made his debut against Australia at the start of last year, but poor performances in the semi-final of the ICC World T20 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) meant he lost his place in the T20I squad.
He was then selected to tour Australia with India A and under the guidance of Dravid, the 23-year-old got a second wind.
“After the (T20) World Cup, I had a slight reality check, on how I can improve my game,” said Pandya. “The Australia tour was pretty important for me, where I learnt lots of things about my game.
“Rahul Dravid helped me a lot, talking to me about my game, and the mental things, where I have to always be there in the game.”
The tour to Australia helped Pandya break into India’s ODI team and he was also part of the Indian Test squad that was named to face England, but did not play a game.
Pandya also spoke about the influence of India A assistant and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey.
“Paras sir helped me with my bowling as well. So it was an all-round package of fitness, going through my mental thing and my fitness as well,” added Pandya.
"The India A tour to Australia last year has been a learning curve" @hardikpandya7 on how he has matured over the past year #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/KmxCB86h41
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 24, 2017
