{"id":487453,"date":"2026-03-21T10:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487453\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T10:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:23:13","slug":"meet-hardik-pandya-he-is-going-to-play-very-soon-dinner-table-prediction-that-proved-right-watch-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487453\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Meet Hardik Pandya, he is going to play very soon&#8217;: Dinner-table prediction that proved right &#8211; WATCH | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hardik-pandya-2103-bcci.jpg\" alt=\"'Meet Hardik Pandya, he is going to play very soon': Dinner-table prediction that proved right - WATCH\" title=\"Hardik Pandya (BCCI Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Hardik Pandya (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: It was at an intimate dinner hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/irfan-pathan\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Irfan Pathan<\/a> that a young, dynamic <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/hardik-pandya\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hardik Pandya<\/a> was first introduced to one of his idols \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/wasim-jaffer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wasim Jaffer<\/a>. Years later, the India all-rounder\u2019s admiration for the domestic stalwart has only grown stronger, with Pandya once again naming Jaffer as his cricketing idol at the Naman Awards.While Jaffer represented India just 33 times, his legacy was built in domestic cricket, where he scored nearly 20,000 first-class runs over a remarkable 25-year career.  <\/p>\n<p> Watch<\/p>\n<p> Shashi Tharoor &amp; Samson\u2019s Redemption Story: From Setbacks to Glory Recalling his first interaction with Pandya, Jaffer went back to the 2014\u201315 Ranji Trophy season, when Mumbai faced Baroda and Pandya was still an emerging talent.Speaking on his Instagram profile, Jaffer said: &#8220;The first time I met him was during the 2014 or 2015 Ranji season. Mumbai were playing Baroda in Baroda. Irfan (Pathan), Yusuf (Pathan), and Munaf (Patel) were playing in the opposition team. I was not playing that match because I was injured, but I traveled with the team.\u201d\u201cI remember that we went to Irfan&#8217;s house for dinner, and that is when I met Hardik and Krunal for the first time,\u201d said Jaffer. &#8220;Irfan told me, &#8216;Meet Hardik, he is going to play very soon.\u2019 And I think he was picked by the Mumbai Indians that season itself.\u201dAt the time, Pandya was just beginning to make a name for himself, but his admiration for Jaffer was already evident.\u201cIrfan told me that he is a big fan of mine. Hardik himself said, &#8216;Main aapki batting bahut dekhta hoon aur mujhe bahut apka khelne ka andaz pasand hai (I watch your batting a lot and I really like the way you play).\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Poll<\/p>\n<p>Who do you consider a more influential figure in domestic cricket ?<\/p>\n<p> \u201cIt&#8217;s very nice of him that he still takes my name in front of big stars. And that is why there has been so much news about who Wasim Jaffer is,\u201d reflected Jaffer. \u201cPeople keep hearing other names very often, but they might not remember Wasim Jaffer because I made a name for myself in First-Class cricket.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/microsite_v2\/website-toisa,path-book_pass_2026.cms?utm_source=TOI&amp;utm_medium=Masthead_sports\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Banner Insert\" imgsize=\"23456\" resizemode=\"4\" title=\"\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdersrc=\"\" placeholdermsid=\"\" msid=\"\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/129493222.cms.jpeg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hardik Pandya (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: It was at an intimate dinner hosted by Irfan Pathan that a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,27710,37361,32190,48672,101,56,54,55,172666],"class_list":["post-487453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-hardik-pandya","tag-irfan-pathan","tag-mumbai-indians","tag-ranji-trophy","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wasim-jaffer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}