The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 has already reached the business end as Qualifier 1 will be played between the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans and Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Kolkata on Tuesday. The winner of this game will reach the straight to the final. Ahead of the playoffs, former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag has reviewed the playoff qualifiers and he picked his favorite captain in the IPL 2022. Surprisingly, Sehwag picked someone who did not have any captaincy experience before this season.
During a chat on Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag said, “One captain who has impressed me the most is Hardik Pandya. I did not expect Hardik Pandya to do such a wonderful captaincy. The way he used to bat, I thought he will be similarly aggressive with his captaincy too. He did not do that. He was cool and calm.”
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He further explained, “I am not saying this because his team won so many matches or because Ashish Nehra is my friend. When do you like someone’s captaincy? It happens when, during crucial moments, you take crucial decisions, especially while your team is bowling. The changes that you do in bowling or fielding yield results. During pressure situations, he has been calm and that’s why I have liked his captaincy.”
Meanwhile, former New Zealand skipper, Daniel Vettori has said that Sanju Samson’s team holds a slight edge over Hardik Pandya’s GT because of the presence of three seasoned bowlers who will be expected to do well on a big match day.
During a recent chat on ESPNCrcinfo, Daniel Vettori said, “I love the Ashwin-Chahal combination, I think that gives Rajasthan something special through the middle. So, I think Rajasthan is just a little bit in front because of those two and Trent Boult. There’s nothing to take away from the Gujarat bowling line-up but I think Rajasthan just has the edge.”
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Yuzvendra Chahal leads the Purple Cap race with 26 wickets from 14 matches so far. Trent Boult has also managed to scalp 13 wickets in as many matches while Prasidh Krishna has picked up 15 scalps in 14 games so far for the franchise.
