T20 World Cup 2022: "Birthday 2022, you were a ride"- Hardik Pandya shares photos of his birthday bash with Team India

Hardik Pandya celebrated his 29th birthday with the Indian team and the support staff in Australia. The Indian contingent is in the land Down Under for the T20 World Cup set to begin later this month.

The Men in Blue have been sweating it out in their camp in Perth but decided to take a day off and celebrate Pandya's birthday in a memorable fashion.

The all-rounder took to his social media accounts to post photos of him celebrating his birthday with the entire Indian contingent. Pandya shared a photo of him cutting the cake, his selfie with coach Rahul Dravid and images of him having fun with Dinesh Karthik and captain Rohit Sharma.

He ended the compilation with a photo of himself in front of a picturesque background.

Here's what Pandya captioned his photos with, thanking everyone for their wishes:

"Birthday 2022, you were a ride. Appreciate all the love and wishes Thank you."

Birthday 2022, you were a ride 💯 Appreciate all the love and wishes ❤️ Thank you. https://t.co/ldYdoQt0iI

Hardik Pandya is extremely important to India's chances at the T20 World Cup

Hardik Pandya is arguably India's most valuable T20 player at the moment with the balance that he brings into the side. With the pace attack missing the cutting edge and explosiveness of Jasprit Bumrah, the 29-year-old could be used even more, as he is a hit-the-deck bowler.

Pandya has hit the 140 kmph mark on occasion this year and that will give the Indian team more confidence about his ability as an enforcer in the middle-overs. The Australian pitches could assist his bowling and he'll also be expected to deliver some lusty blows with the bat.

Pandya enjoyed a fairytale comeback to competitive cricket as he led the Gujarat Titans to the 2022 Indian Premier League title. He will look to make it a year to remember by stepping up in the T20 World Cup as India aim to reclaim the title they last won 15 years ago.

Sun and shine ✨ https://t.co/3NvjGBAO5n

India's T20 World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.