Picture Credit: Twitter
Hardik Pandya has been having a really tough time in his cricketing career. Neither his body nor his temperament has looked in the best of shape whenever he has taken the field in the past few months. He rarely bowled in the second leg of IPL, then in the T20 World Cup, he could not perform with the bat as well. This raised a question on his place as an all-rounder in the team and shortly after the tournament, Venkatesh Iyer was brought in as Pandya's replacement.
In the meantime, Hardik Pandya went into rehabilitation and worked on regaining his full fitness. And it seems that Hardik Pandya is all set to return to the field as an all-rounder. In a talk show, Backstage with Boria, Hardik claimed that he is feeling good about his body and preparing as an all-rounder.
“I want to play as an all-rounder. If something goes bad, then I don’t know but my preparations are all about playing as an all-rounder. I am feeling good, feeling strong, and eventually, the time will say what happens,” said Hardik.
My way of leadership is to set examples: Hardik
The 28-year-old cricketer who has been given the leadership role for the Ahmedabad franchise seemed excited about the new challenge and also shared his insights on how he will take his team forward. He remembered an instance from his initial days when MS Dhoni showed faith in him despite his shabby first over and said he too wants to adopt a similar approach while captaining his new team. "On my debut match, in the first over, I went for 22 or 24 runs - I genuinely thought it was my first & last game - but Mahi Bhai called me for the next over and things changed completely then," said Pandya.
“My way of leadership is to set examples, to set culture, to set the attitude which the team wants to play with. So, my way of leadership is taking the team along. So, my philosophy isn’t too complicated. You have to make sure the environment is nice and the players are feeling at home and once everyone gets comfortable, they realize their potential,” said Pandya about captaincy.