By India Today Sports Desk: Hardik Pandya’s legend as a captain has continued to develop this 12 months as he as quickly as as soon as extra led from the doorway and guided Gujarat Titans to their second consecutive remaining inside the IPL.
When the Indian all-rounder was let go by Mumbai Indians after being an integral part of their title-winning juggernaut ahead of IPL 2022, he was shortly roped in by the Titans and was appointed as their captain.
This was a reputation that did have its reservations at first as Hardik had not at all captained a facet inside the IPL. However, the 29-year-old repaid the faith put in him by the householders as GT accomplished prime of the components desk ultimate 12 months after which went on to raise the trophy of their maiden advertising marketing campaign.
The huge question ahead of IPL 2023 was if Hardik and Co would have the power to duplicate the similar magic this 12 months and even make it two in two. That question was answered emphatically by the facet as they as quickly as as soon as extra accomplished prime of the desk and have change into the first facet to make it two consecutive IPL finals of their first two seasons inside the occasion.
They received right here agonizingly close to lifting the title as quickly as as soon as extra, nevertheless the Titans and Hardik have made everyone take uncover of them of their first two seasons.
The reward for the 29-year-old has been coming in from all corners, with many drawing parallels between him and the legendary CSK skipper, MS Dhoni.
If this season is one thing to go by, then we’re capable of clearly see that the similarities between the two are very shut and Hardik seems to be basing his captaincy on Dhoni and seems to be excelling at it.
Reinventing the earlier and rising the model new
Tom Moody was quick to stage out how Dhoni has been worthwhile in reinventing a lot of the earlier names in IPL and making them look like completely new avid gamers.
The biggest occasion of this in IPL 2023 was Ajinkya Rahane, who regarded like a completely completely completely different particular person inside the CSK lineup. Gone have been the instances of being conservative for the Mumbai batter, who confirmed an aggressive facet that was a welcome sight to the Indian followers.
A take a look at Shivam Dube moreover tells the identical story. The left-handed batter was given the place that Suresh Raina used to do for the five-time champions all through his collaborating in days and Dhoni’s perception took him to new heights.
Dhoni’s use of youthful experience like Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande reaped huge rewards for CSK in a advertising marketing campaign the place their bowling was seen as a weak stage.
So how did Hardik use this trick from Dhoni’s playbook?
Well, try the likes of Vijay Shankar and David Miller inside the GT lineup. Both males have been slowly being misplaced inside the shuffle sooner than changing into a member of GT they often received a model new lease of life inside the facet. Miller was instrumental inside the IPL 2022 success, whereas Shankar’s heroics with the bat carried out a large place in a number of wins for the Titans this season.
The comeback story of Mohit Sharma as a wicket-taker and a dying bowler, a process he excelled under Dhoni in CSK, has had Hardik play a large supporting place.
When it includes the youngsters, the GT skipper has really helped the likes of Shubman Gill and Noor Ahmed. Gill accomplished with the Orange Cap whereas Noor seems set to be a trump card alongside Rashid Khan inside the coming seasons.
For Indian cricket and Gujarat Titans, it is clear that Hardik should have his private kind of captaincy for achievement inside the coming years. But basing it on one of many worthwhile captains of all time, might have been a acutely conscious selection by the 29-year-old and he is really excelling inside the methods set by his mentor.