All-rounder Hardik Pandya has been garnering praises for his grand success in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. It was his first assignment as a captain and he didn’t let the team management down. Not only he returned to form this season but also led Gujarat Titans to their maiden title victory, that too, in their debut season.
The experts were moved by the way Pandya led his side throughout the tournament. Even the players had good things to say for their leader who was doing this job for the first time in such a big tournament.
Meanwhile, Wridhhiman Saha, one of the senior players in the side, spoke about the way Hardik managed his players during the season. In an interview with Sportskeeda, the veteran wicketkeeper-batter said the all-rounder backed every player and instilled the faith that each one of them is a match-winner.
“When a team does well, everything seems nice. I’ve observed a big change in Hardik’s batting style. While playing for the Mumbai Indians, his role was that of a big hitter in the lower middle order. He looked more mature and took added responsibility while batting at No. 4 this season. You could say that he was our middle-order fulcrum,” Saha was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.
“He backed every player in the team and instilled the belief that everyone is a match-winner. It was because of this belief that even Rashid won us a few matches with the bat,” he added.
Besides winning the title as a captain, it was a terrific season for Pandya with the bat in hand. He played 14 games this year and scored 487 runs at an average of 44. He also bowled a classic spell to rattle RR in the season finale, registering his best-ever bowling figures – 3/17 – of his IPL career.
Pandya also surpassed CSK skipper MS Dhoni in terms of most number of IPL titles. The 28-year-old now has five titles, 4 with MI and one with GT, going past Dhoni’s tally of four titles – 2010, 2011 2018, & 2021.
He’s also the fourth Indian player to lead an IPL team to title victory after Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir.
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