Arguably one of the most vital cogs in Team India's set-up, Hardik Pandya has been away from cricketing action on the field as his teammates enjoyed a great home season. A persistent back injury which saw him undergoing surgery last October might have kept him on the sidelines, but the Indian all-rounder has become the talk of the town ever since he broke the surprising news of his engagement.

The 26-year-old left everyone in disbelief after he announced his engagement with Serbian actress Natasa Stankovic at the start of the new year. The news was not only a surprise for the cricket fraternity and fans, but also for Hardik's parents who had no idea that their son was going to get engaged anytime soon.

Hardik's father Himanshu spilt the beans on how they reacted to the surprising news of their son's engagement. “Natasa is a very nice girl, and we have met her in Mumbai on a number of occasions. We knew that they were going on a vacation to Dubai, but had no clue that they were going to get engaged. This took us by surprise. We came to know about it after they got engaged,” Pandya Sr. was quoted as saying by Bombay Times.

© Instagram/@hardikpandya93

Hardik shares a close bond with his father and has been showering him with gifts including expensive cars in the past. It was his father's poor health conditions early in his life that saw Hardik mature before his age as he joined his elder brother Krunal to earn a living for their family. However, those days are far gone and the Pandyas seem to be doing just fine.

Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. ð«ð 01.01.2020 â¤ï¸ #engaged

A post shared by Hardik Pandya (@hardikpandya93) on Jan 1, 2020 at 4:02am PST

The Baroda cricketer broke the news of his engagement on New Year's day by sharing a series of photographs with Natasa. He also shared a video of himself proposing to Natasa on Instagram with a caption that read: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan". The duo was holidaying in Dubai when they exchanged the rings with each other in a speedboat as performers sang a Bollywood number in the background.

Forever yes ð¥°ðâ¤ï¸ @hardikpandya93

A post shared by ðNataša StankoviÄð (@natasastankovic__) on Jan 1, 2020 at 4:42am PST

The Serbian actor also took to Instagram and posted a video of Hardik going down on his knees to pop the all-important question. The cute video was captioned: "Forever, yes!".

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