IPL is a demanding tournament and requires immense fortitude. Thereafter, the requirements grow further if you are burdened with the role of captain. Hence, not everyone takes on the duty of captaincy like Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni do. However, one player who took it like fish to water was, Gujarat Lions captain, Hardik Pandya.
Earlier in the year, he marshalled the Indian team against Ireland and helped India win the series. His captaincy was also praised in the IPL. He led a new team in their inaugural season to win a trophy. His effort with the ball and bat was splendid. However, his game awareness was exceptional.
Lately, India has rested few of its frontline players and hence the captaincy musical chairs has been happening for a while. In the just concluded T20I series against West Indies, India won the series 4-1. In the final game, Hardik Pandya took on the captain’s job because Rohit Sharma was rested.
Hardik Pandya ready to be permanent captain
Post the game, Hardik Pandya made a candid revelation. He was asked how he liked his captaincy job and whether he would like to take a full-time job. Hardik Pandya was quick to respond with a candid answer.
“Yeah! why not? If I get an opportunity in the future, I’ll be more than happy to do that, but right now, we have the World Cup, and we have the Asia Cup [coming up]. We’re going to focus on that and make sure as a team what we’re doing, we continue [with that] and make sure that all the skillsets, which we are learning we can keep getting better at it, and at the same point of time enjoy the game as well,” Hardik quoted saying by Cricinfo.
Big talk from Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma, was asked about so many captains in the team. In his answer, he spoke of how there could be a time where the team has ten IPL captains playing together. There are currently 10 IPL franchises and most of them are captained by Indian players. Very soon, a team could come up where all 10 IPL captains could be in the team. Sharma, emphasized on how this made his job easy as they knew their roles in the team.
He said, “I know it’s very exciting to create so many leaders around the team because it’s always a good sign. I think it’s very important to have that leadership, but obviously, we play the IPL, and it’s a ten-team tournament. So, there will be ten captains who at some stage, will be a part of the Indian team as well. I think it’s fantastic because honestly, my job is much lesser as these guys understand everything pretty well.”
