Hardik Pandya will lead India for the first time in his career in the two-match T20I series against Ireland, which begins in Dublin on Sunday. Earlier this year, Hardik Pandya led the debutants Gujarat Titans (GT) to the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in their maiden season in the high-profile tournament, earning rave reviews for his captaincy. Subsequently, Hardik Pandya was named vice-captain for the five-match T20I series against South Africa and is being viewed as India's future captain. Former cricketers, including Irfan Pathan, have backed him to be appointed as the national team skipper, at least in the T20 format. Now Hardik Pandya has opened up about whether he should be considered for India's captaincy or not. The flamboyant all-rounder stated that he relishes the responsibility as it brings the best out of him. Hardik Pandya was also asked how he would be able to determine if he was worthy enough to lead the side, to which he gave a strong reply.

“I am not here to show anything to anybody. I have got an opportunity to lead India, which itself is a big thing for me. I don't play this sport to show anything to anybody. I am good enough. Hardik said in a virtual press conference on Saturday.

“I will see in the future, otherwise more than anything I am just focusing on what I can bring in this series,” he added.

In the two matches against Ireland, India would be without regular captain Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli, explosive wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who are all part of India's Test squad for the fifth Test against England. The match will be played in Birmingham from July 1.

Hardik Pandya said that India will give opportunities to young players during the series against Ireland.

“If such a situation arises that we have to send two teams, we are very lucky that we have the bench strength where we can allow the players to go and express and a lot of people will get opportunities. There are so much talent in India that people don't get opportunities. Playing for India is always a dream and for them to achieve that dream will be really fantastic,” Hardik Pandya elaborated.

“The way talent has come up and the character the players have shown and the way we played, it indicates India's bench strength. There are plenty of options right now in Indian team. Four people are still fighting for places in the team. They are knocking the doors, so it can be better than that,” he continued.

Hardik Pandya has played under both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, two of India's greatest captains, and has learned a lot from them. But the 28-year-old cricketer emphasized that he follows his instinct when leading a side.

“Obviously I have taken a lot of things from them (Dhoni and Kohli) but at the same time I also want to be myself, obviously my understanding of the game is different but I have taken a lot of good vibes from them. I am not instinctive but I see more situation than go on my gut. At what point of time, what decision the team requires, I focus on that rather than going on my gut. Gut always goes 50-50,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, former India batter Mohammad Kaif too was impressed with his captaincy and declared his leadership as “outstanding“.

“I was there at the ground for the finals in Ahmedabad. I saw him captaining there live. His field placement was outstanding. He is also a good man-manager because the way his players performed under pressure told me the story of nice vibes around the team,” Mohammad Kaif said in a virtual interaction organized by Sony Sports.

“He's backing his players; he was standing at mid-off and was talking to his players, especially to the bowlers when they felt the pressure in terms of bowling in death overs. If you ask me personally, I was very impressed with his captaincy. There are a lot of teams playing the IPL from the very first year (and) have not done what Hardik did winning the IPL title as a captain in the very first year,” the former India middle-order batter added.

“When he captained, what I saw as a player was in Hardik Pandya, he’s ticked most boxes in captaincy. Because of winning the toss and seeing the conditions, he was spot-on (with his decision-making). Sometimes he batted first, he chased the target, giving the roles to batters as well as bowlers. Also, his form was very crucial, he was batting at three, four; coming into power-play and batted till the end apart from bowling a few overs,” Mohammad Kaif asserted.

India squad for Ireland T20I series: Hardik Pandya (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi.