Star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has said that he wants to be exceptional in the fielding department of the game and his goal for the remainder of the year is to take a catch that would go down as one of his best. "God has been kind to me, my fitness has gone up. I am able to spend a lot of time on my fielding with our coach (T Dillip). I was always natural as a fielder, but I want to be exceptional. Now, I am able to spend some time on my skills and get those difficult catches. My goal this year is to grab a catch that could go down as one of my best ever," said Pandya in a video posted by BCCI.
Pandya said that he was always excited to come to Australia and spend so much time before the T20 World Cup to get used to the conditions, weather etc.
Talking about his knock of 27 in the practice match against Western Australia, Pandya said that he was satisfied with his performance.
"It was not about the runs, but rather about my approach towards the game and what the situation was like and how I adapted to it. I played 21 balls with the middle of the bat. It was positive from a practice game point of view," he added.
About batting in Australian conditions, Pandya said that it is about playing that one innings that can help players get adapted to the conditions.
"If you can get that early in the season, early in the tournament, you can score a lot of runs after getting used to conditions. Also as a fast bowler, you can exploit the conditions after adapting to it," he added.
In 3 T20I innings that Pandya has played in Australia so far, Pandya has scored 78 runs at an average of 39.00, which also includes a match-winning 42* off 22 balls against Australia in 2nd T20I of the three-match series back in 2020. He has also taken three wickets in six matches he has played in Australia.
India will next play New Zealand in their second and final warm-up match on October 19.
At the ICC competition, India is in Group 2 with Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and two qualifiers.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami.