'Can stamp Pandya as India captain once...' — Sunil Gavaskar predicts future of leadership group within national team camp

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that Hardik Pandya has the potential of taking over as India's limited-overs skipper depending on his performance in the upcoming ODI series against Australia.

Regular skipper Rohit Sharma will sit out the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium due to family commitments, with Pandya named the stand-in captain for the contest. This will not be his first foray as the team's captain has already inofficially taken over as India's T20I skipper.

Moreover, he led the Gujarat Titans (GT) to their first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) title. Gavaskar, as quoted by News 18, said that Pandya as the captain gives a sense of comfort to the rest of the team.

"What you see with Hardik Pandya as a captain is a sense of comfort with the rest of the team. Maybe, it's the way he handles the players, puts his arm around the players. He just seems to give the players a sense of comfort. That's so important to give a player a sense of comfort so that he can go and play his natural game. I think he encourages them, which is a wonderful sign," said Gavaskar.
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Adding to this, the legendary cricketer said that his ability to perform as an 'impact player' when his team need a push is exactly something that India needs at this time. "Of course, the fact that he can be an impact player as well as a game changer in the middle order. Even for the Gujarat team, he was promoting himself up the order knowing that this is the time when the team needed some momentum and push, and he would do that," Gavaskar said.

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Gavaskar has been left impressed with Pandya's captaincy at the T20 level, both with Gujarat and for the country and is of the opinion that the all-rounder can take over from Rohit Sharma in the limited-overs format after the 2023 ODI World Cup.

"I have been very impressed with his captaincy at the T20 level for the Gujarat Titans and for India when he is captaining the T20 side. I do believe that if he wins the first game in Mumbai, then you can almost stamp him as the India captain once the World Cup is over in 2023," Gavaskar added.