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Once marred by the injury woes, Hardik Pandya is gearing up to make a resounding return to cricket as he will be seen spearheading the new entrant Gujarat Titans (GT) against their IPL opener match against another debutant Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday (March 28).
The injury kept the Baroda-born all-rounder away from bowling as he managed to bowl just four overs during India's lacklustre campaign in last year's T20 World Cup, and didn't bowl a single delivery for Mumbai Indians (MI). It remains to be seen whether Hardik rolls his arm over during the ongoing IPL season.
However, Gujarat Titans' head coach Ashish Nehra believes the stylish all-rounder's bowling could serve as a 'surprise' element in the ongoing edition of IPL.
"When I saw him in Baroda, he was good, bowling around 80%. That was a few weeks back and he was feeling really comfortable. Since then he went to the NCA and has been practising non-stop. He has used this word, 'surprise', once or twice, so I jokingly asked him, 'What is this surprise?'" Nehra questioned Hardik.
"From day one I have been saying, in any T20 squad, I will take Hardik Pandya as a pure batter. As far as our franchise is concerned, I am looking at him more as a captain and batsman. And maybe that is why he is saying his bowling is a 'surprise'," Nehra added.
Nehra also put forth his views about Mohammed Shami and highlighted the senior bowler's rise in the international arena. The franchise has splurged a hefty sum of ₹6.25 crore for Shami in the recent mega auctions.
"I have played with him in my last few years. In the last three or four years the kind of experience and the kind of maturity he has shown... the two fast bowlers in India we always discuss are Shami and Bumrah. And it is not one or two series," said the former India bowler.
"The kind of fitness he has shown, the kind of long spells he has shown, it is really exciting to see. The price we got him for was a steal. For this team, he is a senior pro," he further added.
The new entrants of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans (GT) have announced Rashid Khan as their vice-captain ahead of their IPL opener against another debutant Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday (March 28).
This is not the first time for Rashid in the leadership role as he has earlier spearheaded Afghanistan in a few matches at the international level. The star spinner was roped in by Gujarat Titans for a humungous Rs 15 crore after being released by his former franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Titans took to their official Instagram handle to make this announcement and posted an adorable picture of Hardik and Rashid having a laugh together. “In yet another #SeasonOfFirsts, Rashid bhai becomes our vice-captain,” the caption of the post read.
Rashid and Hardik will look to make a letal pair for their franchise in order to launch their bid for the coveted IPL title being the new entrant.
Gujarat Titans' full squad:
Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (Captain), Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.
