Former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer praised Hardik Pandya for his leadership skills. Hardik was handed over the captaincy for the T20I series against New Zealand in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Hardik took the team’s responsibility with both hands and showed a lot of guts.
Jaffer said that Hardik is not the kind of captain who likes to play safe or who fears trouble and difficulties. He was also surprised that despite leading the Indian team, his own performance did not drop, even though he came out to be a more mature batter.
“Pandya has shown tremendous maturity. The way he led in the IPL, the way he handled everyone, he looked like a player’s captain and everybody responded to him and he himself performs so well. I am not surprised the way he has captained and his own performance hasn’t dropped, which is a good thing,” Jaffer was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“He takes those 50-50 decisions and he isn’t going to play safe. In the future, if he leads, you are going to see more of it,” the 44-year-old added.
Pandya’s tremendous year as a leader
Earlier this year in May, Pandya took Gujarat Franchise to victory in the Indian T20 League 2022, and he also captained India against Ireland this year to a 2-0 win. Pandya has shown the qualities of a leader. And as it seems, he is not afraid of taking tough decisions, which can be beneficial for the team.
Hardik-led India to another series win on Tuesday as the Men in Blue beat the Black Caps in the three-match T20I series. The first match of the series was washed out. The second match was won by the Indian side by 65 runs with the help of Suryakumar Yadav’s sensational ton. This is his second international T20I ton in the shortest format. Meanwhile, the third match was also called off due to rain. India were in a tricky position as they lost 4 wickets on 60. Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda were in the middle while chasing 160 runs target. But the weather has different plans.
