Hardik Pandya had a great run for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 as he led the debutants to the title win and his captaincy impressed one and all. Now, the 28-year-old all-rounder has been given the opportunity to lead Team India in the upcoming two-match T20I series against Ireland, beginning Sunday. It would be interesting to see how Hardik uses the resources at display and what sort of leadership skills he displays.
“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. 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,” said Hardik while replying during a virtual press conference.
When asked about his journey in the past few months, Hardik said: “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.”
“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,” he added.
