Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar spoke highly of India's reported T20I skipper and current Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik Pandya, saying that the all-rounder is very similar to former India captain MS Dhoni and his approach when it comes to captaincy.
Pandya has been one of the best skippers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since taking up the role with GT, having led them to the title in their maiden campaign in IPL 2022. The India all-rounder also has a very good win percentage in major games since taking the role and after IPL 2022, he has also been named the captain of India in the T20I setup.
GT's seven-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday took the defending champions to the top of the points table. Speaking on Star Sports, as quoted by Hindustan Times, Gavaskar heaped praise on Pandya and said that he isn't trying to impose his personality on the team and claimed that would be his legacy as the skipper of the franchise.
"Sometimes the captains try to keep their personality and the team's personality the same. The personality of the captain and the team could be different. Hardik is not trying to impose his personality on the team. That's what Hardik is doing with GT. This is going to be his legacy as a skipper," said Gavaskar.
Gavaskar also said that Pandya is very similar to Dhoni in his approach as a captain and is of the opinion that the all-rounder has absorbed all the good qualities of his former India skipper. "He's very similar to MS Dhoni in his approach as captain and imbibed the good qualities from his former India skipper," said Gavaskar.
Pandya's captaincy has earned a lot of praise from his teammates as well, with Saturday's hero Vijay Shankar being the latest to join in the accolades. Shankar was impressed with the way that the GT skipper always finds a way to come good in difficult situations.
"Hardik is really aggressive. He wants to find a way to come out good in difficult situations. He always wants to do it for the team. He takes the new ball. He has delivered it when we needed the wicket of Rohit Sharma against Mumbai Indians," said Shankar.
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