Hardik Pandya impressed the cricket world with his leadership skills during the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year. As captain of the newly-formed outfit Gujarat Titans (GT), Hardik Pandya was in-charge of a team of a bunch of good cricketers but didn't have the superstars of the sport to boast of. Yet, such was the influence of Hardik Pandya the skipper on the team that the Ahmedabad-based franchise went to clinch a maiden IPL title in their debut season, stunning fans and pundits alike. Hardik Pandya's calm demeanor and his ability to get the best out of his players were subsequently hailed as the main reasons behind Gujarat's spectacular triumph. Many former cricketers, subsequently, backed the star all-rounder to be appointed India captain in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma. Acknowledging the various voices in Hardik Pandya's support, the Indian selectors went on to appoint him as captain for the T20I series against Ireland and the Surat-born cricketer's rise in Indian cricket was now complete. Former India batter Mohammad Kaif too was impressed with his captaincy and has now declared his leadership as “outstanding”.
Mohammad Kaif also revealed that Hardik Pandya the skipper is extremely different from Hardik Pandya the player. Leader Hardik Pandya is known to take up more and more responsibility on his shoulders. Throughout Gujarat's IPL-winning campaign, Hardik Pandya was seen promoting himself up in the batting order. On the bowling front, Hardik Pandya was seen taking the new ball for his team. His ability to lead from the front was lauded by several cricketers. Mohammad Kaif has now joined the bandwagon.
“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 organised 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.
“Hardik did a good job with captaincy and if you see with Gujarat Titans, you could say they were not the strongest side after the auction. Few other franchises had done a good job. But it's about how you play and perform on the field on that day. You want to pick the best eleven to win the series (against Ireland). Hardik can do that; he has done well for Gujarat,” Kaif described.
During the same interaction, Mohammad Kaif declared that Hardik Pandya and the seasoned Dinesh Karthik will play a “crucial” role in Team India’s T20 World Cup campaign in Australia later this year.
Arguing that the Men in Blue would need batters who could score quick runs in the death overs, and being the finishers, both Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik would have to shoulder the responsibility of delivering the goods in the final overs.
As per Mohammad Kaif, the pair’s performance would decide whether India will end their 15-year drought in the prestigious ICC event or not. The Indian cricket team last won the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.
“I have been saying that if you see the top-order, you have lots of players there like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, (Shreyas) Iyer. But to finish the game, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik will be playing a major role as India need finishers who can play with higher strike rate,” Mohammad Kaif said.
“So, I see these two repeating the same things again and again. Like they did against South Africa and in the IPL as well, their form will be crucial against Ireland and when they play T20Is against England and then moving forward from there. If India has to win the World Cup, they will be playing a crucial role,” he further added.
In the South Africa series, the Hardik Pandya-Dinesh Karthik combination showed the world why they are regarded as two of the most dangerous batters in the T20 format.
With 117 runs in four innings at an average of over 58, Hardik Pandya finished as the third leading run-scorer in the series. But the scary part about his heroics against the Proteas was that his runs came at a strike rate of 153.94.
On the other hand, Dinesh Karthik’s exploits in Rajkot have now become a part of Indian folklore as the 37-year-old became the oldest batter from the country to score a fifty in T20Is, breaking the legendary MS Dhoni’s record.
In the match, Dinesh Karthik was unstoppable from the word go. The Tamil Nadu batter toyed with the South Africa bowlers, smashing a stunning 55 in just 27 balls.
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