Hardik Pandya is perfect candidate to lead India in future in T20Is, says Scott Styris: All-rounder Hardik Pandya has made giant strides to gear up his cricketing career after making a comeback to the Indian side. From being dropped off the team to leading the national side against Ireland and West Indies, a lot changed for the junior Pandya. The extent of his brilliance is such that his name is now being discussed amongst the probables who can lead team India in the near future. In fact, he is placed way ahead of any other candidate.
Notably, the cricket experts and veterans are also impressed with how Hardik Pandya has fared following his comeback to the Indian side. Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris, recently, said that he won’t be surprised if Hardik Pandya leads team India in the near future.
“I wouldn’t be surprised maybe not for this tournament, but in the future that we do see Hardik Pandya leading this T20 team,” Scott Styris said in News 18’s show ‘Sports Over the Top.’
After the completion of the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE, Hardik Pandya dropped himself and decided to focus on his fitness. He made himself unavailable for national selection and dedicatedly worked to get in better shape.
He made his first cricket appearance, after making himself unavailable, in the Tata IPL 2022 as the skipper of Gujarat Titans. While not many people enjoyed GT’s decision to appoint Hardik as the leader of the group, the all-rounder proved everyone wrong and won the IPL title in his very first season.
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“I think it’s an intriguing discussion because again, six months ago, I don’t think it’s something we all thought would even be talked about, but Hardik Pandya has made every poster winner,” he added.
“So, I don’t mind this for Hardik Pandya to be given some leadership in this side, whether now be the vice-captain or in the future as a captain because quite rightly what is the direction this Indian team wants to go, whether it’s T20 in terms of its brand, how do they want to play the game? Because Hardik Pandya certainly has the personality of today’s player, where they want to go out and expand and show their skills and really just show off to everybody with how good they are. And I think that sort of leadership actually breeds itself and lends itself throughout the team to everybody playing with that style,” Styris added.
Interestingly, Hardik Pandya is also open to the role of captaining team India in the future. When asked whether he is keen on the role [leadership], Pandya said: “Yeah, why not?”
“If given a chance, I’ll be more than happy to do it. But for now, we have a World Cup coming, it’s about getting better as a team,” said Hardik Pandya after INDvsWI 5th T20I.
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