Hardik Pandya comes across as the brash, party animal, who loves life in the fast lane. But, check with him, and he says he is much misunderstood and explains how he is the exact opposite, a cricketer who doesn’t like to leave his room easily.

An expressive player, he sure admits to have a taste for the bright life, but clarifies the flashiness is restricted to flashy clothes, cars, tattoos and experimenting with hair styles.

“I might look like a guy who does everything but at the end of the day I am the guy who does nothing. I just look like I am a party person, who might not be disciplined, but I have a focus on the game and that is always there,” Pandya told the Hindustan Times, while asking back, “what gives you the impression that I am a party guy? I hardly leave my room.”

He may or may not be a maverick, but the spark he shows in his play is enough to excite the advertising industry. The marketing guys are sure lapping it up.

Recently, there was a lot of excitement about the twitter chat Pandya had with Bollywood actor Parineeti Chopra. Asked to clear the air, the India all-rounder said it was another of the marketing gimmicks, which he was not even aware of when it was taking place. But, he is cool about it.

“I didn’t even do that. I was sleeping in the morning. I was in Sri Lanka and I got to know all this. I don’t answer about my relationship, I don’t answer who people link me with, and yeah, it doesn’t bother me.

“I don’t have any more to answer on this. The thing is I don’t even know her properly… we have never spoken before and then I see this on Twitter that some love thing is starting and I was like where did this even come from?

“And then when I saw the reply… It was for a phone company and see that’s how people create things. I’m pretty happy; I laugh these things off because I’m a pretty happy soul! I enjoy all this now.”

Hardik Pandya

A dashing cricketer, Hardik Pandya has the market buzzing because he has that ability to come up with something special on the big stage. After his performances in Twenty20 and One-day internationals, he stole the thunder in Sri Lanka with an electrifying hundred in the third Test. So, how is he handling all the fame?

“When I started, I had been like ‘wow I got some fame’ but I’m someone who admits his mistake very quickly. I guess it can take you only a couple of minutes to understand that. Now I find people love us and that’s great to see but now I’ve grown used to it. I am pretty grateful to God to have what I have.”

Also read: Are Hardik Pandya and Parineeti Chopra seeing each other? Here’s a chat