The flamboyant Indian all-rounder, Hardik Pandya had been witnessing a purple patch ever since he led the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 as he led the debutants to the title win and his captaincy impressed one and all. Now, he has been given the opportunity to lead Team India in the upcoming T20I series against Ireland, beginning Sunday comprising of a couple of games. It would be interesting to see how Hardik uses the resources at display and what sort of leadership skills he displays.
Before the recently-concluded 5-match series against South Africa, Hardik had last played for Team India in 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE. The all-rounder attended a virtual press conference on Saturday where he spoke shared his captaincy approach during the upcoming series against Ireland.
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As per the quotes in NDTV, during the virtual press conference, Hardik Pandya said, “Obviously, I have taken a lot of things from them (MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli) but mainly, I wanted to be my own self. My understanding of the game is in a different way, for me, I have taken a lot of good points from them but at the same time, I wanted to be natural and kind of, not be instinctive, I see more (the) situation than I can go with my gut.”
He further added “It is about what the team requires in that point of time, what kind of decision I can take at that point, I focus more on that rather than thinking my gut is saying that, I am going to go there. When you go on gut, it is always 50-50, but I do not believe in that, I like to be practical and I like to see the situation. Obviously, I have always been looking to play some good quality cricket. Describing is difficult, it is just the hard work I have put, getting little outcomes from that.”
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India’s stand-in skipper further explained, “The talent in the Indian team, they have shown great character and the way we played, it shows the bench strength we have. If something happens to any player, then the backup will always be ready. We have so many options, players are still fighting for their spots, they talk about knocking the door, players are getting in after banging the door down. There can be nothing better than that.”
When asked about his own batting, Hardik Pandya explained stating that he lokes taking the responsibility, especially a bit more in the recent past. He also asserted that under his captaincy, he tries to give sufficient confodence to the players and urge them to keep the fight going.
In the last series against South Africa, Hardik Pandya had managed to score 117 runs, but he failed to take a wicket in the series. In IPL 2022, Hardik had scored 487 runs with the bat and he also managed to take eight wickets, out of which, he scalped three in the intense final against Rajasthan Royals (RR).
