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Hardik Pandya has been tested as the T20I captain in the ongoing five-T20I series against West Indies. Pandya's few moves during the two losses to Rovman Powell-led side have come under scrutiny. Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel feels that for Pandya to do well as a captain, head coach Rahul Dravid needs to be more proactive like Gujarat Titans’ (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra.
"There have been a couple of instances about Hardik Pandya's captaincy which have been glaring mistakes. The first was giving that over to Axar Patel in the first game when Nicholas Pooran had come out to bat. And today, this one (not giving Yuzvendra Chahal his 4th over in the 2nd T20I). Hardik Pandya the captain has been brilliant with GT but at Gujarat Titans he had the support of Ashish Nehra. But is Rahul Dravid the proactive coach or person which we are looking for in the T20 format. I don't think so. In my mind, we need someone who is proactive. Hardik Pandya has that spark but he needs that support, which to me Rahul Dravid doesn't provide," Parthiv said on Cricbuzz after India’s second consecutive T20I loss.
Under Pandya's captaincy, GT won their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy in 2022. In the subsequent season, they reached the final where Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won in a nail-biting rain-marred encounter.
In the second T20I, Yuzvendra Chahal not bowling the full quota of overs was criticised by many as West Indies won the match by two wickets despite suffering a collapse.
"See, a T20 format is usually something which changes around in one moment of the game. One decision here and there, which in this case was Hardik Pandya not giving that over to Chahal. He did not finish his quota of 4 overs, so to me, that was something which changed the game in the favour of West Indies," Patel further added.
Now, every match of the T20I series will be a ‘perform or perish’ encounter if India are to make a comeback and come out on top at the end of Caribbean tour.
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