[In Pictures] Hardik Pandya shares adorable posts with Natasa Stankovic ahead of 2023 Asia Cup

India vice-captain Hardik Pandya shared adorable posts with his wife Natasa Stankovic ahead of the 2023 Asia Cup. That came after the Men in Blue landed in Kandy for the 50-over tournament on Wednesday, August 30.

The Baroda-born all-rounder shared several pictures with his better half to share their journey over the past two years. The 29-year-old dropped a black heart emoji as a caption.

Responding to the post, Natasa wrote:

“My love,” with three heart emojis.

For the uninitiated, the couple got engaged in January 2020 before getting married on May 31 during the same year. The couple welcomed their son Agastya on July 30.

The cricketer often shares pictures of Natasa and Agastya especially during away tours when they are not together.

Meanwhile, it remains to be known whether Indian cricketers have been allowed to travel with their wives and girlfriends to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup.

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“Hardik Pandya’s bowling is very important” – Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has stressed that Hardik Pandya’s bowling will be vital in the 2023 ODI World Cup. He stressed how Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina’s bowling played an important role when India won their last 50-over World Cup in 2011.

Manjrekar recently told Star Sports:

"Hardik Pandya’s form is a little bit of concern, his bowling because you will have to do a lot of physical work in the world Cup because you need him as the all-rounder not just a batter so at least 6-7 over per innings is what is expected from him."

He continued:

"When India won the world in 2011, it was because of people like Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh pure batters who bowled a bit, so Pandya’s bowling is very important.”

In 2023, Pandya has scalped 10 wickets in 11 ODIs this year, including best figures of 3/44.

Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s ex-IPL winning coach Tom Moody labeled Pandya as an impact player who should be thrown up in the batting order depending upon circumstances. He said:

“Hardik Pandya is an impact player. There may be a time, you need to throw him up the order just to get the innings moving quicker than what it has been moving. So, all those tactical nuances, you need to have an open mind too.”

With the bat, Pandya has amassed 280 runs at an average of 31.11, including two half-centuries this year.