Hardik Pandya made his much-awaited return to domestic cricket for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Earlier in 2024, the BCCI made it mandatory for the players to take part in domestic cricket and Hardik played his first game for Baroda since 2018. Krunal Pandya is Baroda's regular captain and Hardik is playing under his captaincy.
Playing his first T20 game for Baroda since becoming a capped player, Hardik created history and etched his name in record books. During his unbeaten 74-run knock off just 35 balls, Hardik became the first Indian all-rounder to score 5000 runs and scalp 100 wickets in T20s. He has 5067 runs and 180 wickets in the shortest format of the game.
Hardik, who made his T20 debut for Baroda in 2013, took two years to get his first big break in IPL. The IPL 2015 season turned out to be life-changing for him and he made his India debut in January 2016. Hardik performed for India and Mumbai Indians (MI) and became their first-choice all-rounder.
Hardik's success in white-ball cricket saw him make his Test debut in 2017. He hasn't played a Test match since 2018 due to fitness issues and his red-ball career is seemingly over. Hardik played 11 Tests. He has played 29 first-class matches in total.
Talking of his IPL career, Hardik remained with MI till IPL 2021. He joined Gujarat Titans (GT) as their captain before the IPL 2022 mega-auction and had a successful two-year stint with them. GT won the IPL 2022 trophy while they played the final of IPL 2023. He returned to MI as their captain before IPL 2024. They had their worst-ever season under Hardik and finished at the last spot.
Despite the below-par season, Hardik will continue as MI's captain. Apart from Hardik, MI retained Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma before the IPL 2025 mega-auction.