I am not here to show anything to anybody – Hardik Pandya on leading India against Ireland

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Hardik Pandya will be leading India in the two-T20I series against Ireland

In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya is the first choice player to lead India in the two-match T20I series against Ireland, considering his remarkable leadership skills in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).

Hardik Pandya is back on the track in recent times with some great cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and for the national side as well.

He led Gujarat Titans from the front to help the newly made franchise earn their maiden IPL 2022 title. He was named “Player of the match” in the final with his all-rounder show.

India recently concluded a five-match T20I series against South Africa in which Pandya showed great strength with both bat and ball and impressed everyone.

He has now been assigned the responsibility to lead India in the two-match T20I series against Ireland, starting from Sunday.

 Before the start of the series, he was asked how he will prove his mettle because after the series he won’t be able to captain the team anymore when the seniors get back in action.

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

Pandya replied.

Pandya added that they may give debuts to the young players in the coming series, though they will try to play with their best X1.

“We want to give the opportunity to people but at the same time, we want to play with the best XI as well. But there will be situations, where we will be giving caps to people. It’s about making sure that when we go into the park, we have the best XI playing. So, that will be the focus,”

Pandya added.

Before the T20I series against South Africa, Hardik had last featured for India in the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE. While against South Africa, Hardik had contributed 117 runs but he couldn’t pick up a wicket with the ball.

In IPL 2022, Hardik had scored 487 runs with the bat and he also managed to take eight wickets, out of which three came in the final against Rajasthan Royals.

India squad for Ireland T20I series: Hardik Pandya (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), 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.

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