Picture Credit: BCCI/Twitter
Hardik Pandya impressed everyone with his leadership skills in his debut IPL season as captain. The Baroda cricketer not only led Gujarat Titans (GT) but took them to their maiden IPL title on debut itself. It was not just his fielding changes and bowling changes that made the difference, but Pandya also lead by example.
He consistently chipped in with crucial performances and won games for his team. Even in the final, Pandya was awarded Man of the Match for his all-round performance. The GT captain took three wickets with the ball and then scored crucial 34 runs with the bat.
Pandya, who has made a name for himself for his aggressive batting, took everyone by surprise in the way he led on the field. He looked calm and composed on most of the moments. Even in critical situations, Pandya kept his cool, just like the great captain MS Dhoni does. The India all-rounder has said before the start of the tournament that he wants to take a leaf out of Dhoni’s captaincy style and he showed it in IPL 2022.
Among many admirers of Hardik’s captaincy is also former IPL player Rajat Bhatia. The former KKR player hailed Pandya for his calmness in crunch situations and said he is happy to see the young captain going the MS Dhoni way.
“Whenever you judge someone’s captaincy skills, you look at how they are reacting in pressure situations. I rarely saw Pandya getting angry or disappointed in such situations. Barring that one incident with Shami, Pandya was cool and calm throughout.
This thing was missing in Virat Kohli’s captaincy. He could not control his emotions in tough situations. And that is the one thing I liked in Hardik Pandya. H was clear in his thought process which made things easier for him,” said Bhatia on SportsTiger LIVE.
Notably, Hardik Pandya scored 487 runs in 15 games at an average of 44.27. He also took 8 wickets.