The South African coach is "extremely shocked" that Hardik Pandya did not win Player of the Series: "He has made a difference."

Shukri Conrad, the head coach of South Africa, feels that Hardik Pandya's effort against the Proteas earned him Player of the Series.

Shukri Conrad, the coach of South Africa, stated that he would be "surprised" if Hardik Pandya's performance against the Proteas would not earn him the Player of the Series award, and this is precisely what transpired. Although spinner Varun Chakaravarthy received the trophy, Pandya was unquestionably the difference between the two sides. The all-rounder returned with three wickets and 142 runs in four games during his comeback series.

Hardik was at his best in the fifth and final Twenty20 International at the Narendra Modi Stadium, when he batted at an incredible pace of 252 and hit 63 runs off just 25 balls with five boundaries and five sixes. Additionally, he used the ball to take the vital wicket of Dewald Brevis, who was threatening to steal the game from the opposition.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Conrad thought Pandya made the largest difference between the two teams, claiming that he had a greater influence than even Jasprit Bumrah.

"To be completely honest, I believe Hardik has been the difference between the two teams, without taking anything away from Bumrah. His knock tonight, in my opinion, made the difference between our victory and defeat. Conrad told reporters during the press conference following the game, "I believe he played a knock in the first one as well, where he just walked in and we had him in a little bit of trouble."

"Look, I believe there's a reason he's among the world's greatest in this style. In other words, his performances have been excellent. I'm not sure who the man of the series is, but I'll be shocked if it's not him. Thus, I think he's been the difference between the two sides,” he added.

The MVP, Pandya
Hardik's status as India's Most Valuable Player in white-ball formats was once again demonstrated by the series against South Africa. He became the third Indian bowler to reach 100 wickets in Twenty20 Internationals earlier this series, following Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah.

In T20Is, he is the first fast-bowling all-rounder to reach the double of 2000 runs and 100 wickets. After Shakib Al Hasan, Virandeep Singh, Mohammad Nabi, and Sikandar Raza, he is the fifth all-rounder to accomplish this overall.

Due to an earlier injury sustained during the Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka, Hardik was unable to play in the final, the white-ball series against Australia, and the ODIs against the Proteas.

After that, he participated in two Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy games for Baroda before returning to the Indian T20I squad.