Former Indian player Irfan Pathan feels India shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket by grooming just Hardik Pandya as their future captain. He said that the all-rounder has been in and out of the side with injuries and that might play a role in his longevity as captain as well. Not long ago, Hardik wasn’t able to bowl and had to take time away from cricket to recover from his back injury. His willpower and hard work helped him make a stunning comeback and he will now lead the Indian team in the T20I series against New Zealand starting next week.

Speaking to Star Sports, here’s what Irfan Pathan had to say about Hardik Pandya’s fitness issues: “So, I’m not saying that if you change the captain you change the result, if you go like that you’re not going to change the result. And with Hardik Pandya, you need to understand, we all need to understand, that he’s a fast bowling all-rounder. He has injury issues as well. What if he is your captain who is getting injured right before the World Cup? And if you don’t have any other leader ready, you’ll be in a mess.”

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Irfan Pathan stated that if Hardik Pandya gets injured just before the World Cup, Team India needs to have some options up their sleeve to replace him. Grooming more leaders could also help the management rotate Hardik considering his workload management as well.

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On this, Irfan Pathan stated: “I personally think is that Hardik Pandya is a leader, who has done very well in the Gujarat Titians, won IPL, won the championship trophy. You need to find not one, but two leaders going forward to build their mark. You know just like we talk about openers – we need to have a group of openers, we also need to have a group of leaders.”