Hardik Pandya led Gujarat Titans to the final of IPL 2022 in their debut season. Cricket pundits around the world praised Hardik for his captaincy in the debut season. Interestingly, Hardik has no experience of leading a side in his cricket career. Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels that Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has a lot to do with the impressive captaincy of Hardik Pandya.
Oh Captain my captain @msdhoni @hardikpandya7
Well done @gujarat_titans team.. pic.twitter.com/7UQd6zmXhX
— ChiyaanMathanCvf (@mathanotnmcvf) May 25, 2022
"Looking at Hardik Pandya's captaincy, it seems as if he has learnt a lot from MS Dhoni. He considers MS Dhoni his elder brother and hero. His man-management style is MS Dhoni's approach. Not showing too much emotion on the field and letting anyone know about their mistakes in the dressing room," Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
"Because of this, every player wants to do something special for the skipper. Hardik has been very impressive with his bowling changes and field placements as well. His success as captain is a positive sign for Team India," he added.
The captaincy has improved Hardik's batting and bowling form as well. In 15 games the GT batter has scored 453 runs. he smashed four fifties in the season. The right-hand batsman struck the ball at 132.84. His bowling performance also improved this season. In 15 games he took eight wickets and bowled with an economy of 7.27. In the final against Rajasthan, Hardik removed three batsmen in the name of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer.
Earlier former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar also praised Hardik for his captaincy in the IPL 2022. “It is the fact that Hardik Pandya is leaving a mark. He is knocking on the door of Indian captaincy. One is not sure how long Rohit Sharma will continue as captain," Akhtar told Sportskeeda.
“It’s never easy to captain the Indian cricket team. Hardik has proved his point (as a leader) but he still needs to focus on his fitness and bowling. When he was fit as an all-rounder, he was an automatic choice in the Indian team. As a pure batter, though, there is no vacancy in the Indian team," he added.
