There’s no manual of learning how to become a captain – Hardik Pandya on leading Ahmadabad
Hardik Pandya replied with a smile and said: “It’s a surprise for everyone” whether he bowls in the upcoming edition of IPL 2022 after becoming a captain of the Ahmedabad franchise.
Hardik Pandya replied with a smile and said: “It’s a surprise for everyone” whether he bowls in the upcoming edition of IPL 2022 after becoming a captain of the Ahmedabad franchise. When pushed further, he said: “my team knows where I stand”.
While there wasn’t much that came out of Pandya but spoke dedicated about the philosophy of his leadership and his eagerness to shape the culture in the Ahmedabad franchise.
With Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill by his side, head coach Ashish Nehra and team mentor Gary Kirsten to handle all the team affairs, Pandya has bigger plans to take this newly born franchise to the upper heights.
“We are starting from scratch and I feel we can create new legacies, we can create new cultures which I want to endorse. It’s going to be a very exciting time,”
Pandya gushed about his new journey.
Having played under MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma in IPL and for India, Pandya is keen to implement the knowledge he has gained from all the big names in the business and he wants himself in the bigger picture and be the one that other can count on when I need.
“There’s no manual of learning how to become a captain,”
he started.
“I’ve always been a person who likes to take responsibility and I am looking forward to the challenge. As a captain, I want to ensure all the players have enough time from me. That’s what I’ve learned and I’ll make sure my doors will always be open for them.
“When someone is doing well, they don’t need anyone. When someone is having a bad day, that’s when they need you. As a captain, when someone is doing good, I will not bother them. When someone is down, I’ll be always available to them.”
“From Virat, I would pick his aggression, passion, and energy, which is tremendous. With Mahi Bhai, I would pick the composed nature. From Rohit, I’ll let the players decide what they want to do. These three qualities I’ll take from them and bring here,”
Pandya replied when asked what he would pick from the recent three Indian captains.
There are still questions under discussion on the bowling concerns of Pandya and the National selectors are not picking him for his bowling concerns. And there will be more concerns for his selection in the T20 World Cup campaign later this year which will be interesting to see how he comes up with that.
However, Pandya also stressed the fact he does not want to contribute with the bat only but he is also working on his bowling to contribute from there as well.
“It’s been challenging. I’ve always been someone who contributes with the bat, ball, and on the field. When I decided I will just bat, I wanted to spend some time on the ground. We all love challenges and I love to fight them out. Criticism is good and it doesn’t really bother me. For me, results do matter but I work hard for the process,”
he pointed out.
“I’ve always realized that as an allrounder I give a lot of different options to the team. I’ll try to work on being an allrounder and if something doesn’t work out then my batting is always there. But Hardik Pandya combined with both bat and ball sounds better than just a batter.
“I’ve always been a cricketer who plays situations and if I have to go certain places where my team needs certain goals from me, as a group we will decide. I have not made any plans regarding that.”