New Delhi: Impressed by Hardik Pandya's 'leadership ability' in the Indian Premier League 2022, former batting great Sunil Gavaskar believes the star all-rounder has emerged as a strong contender to lead the Indian team in the near future. Hardik, who is making a comeback to competitive cricket after a poor show in the T20 World Cup last year, led the Gujarat Titans to clinch the team's title in its very first season.
“Yes definitely. Not just my estimation, but everybody’s estimation (Hardik’s reputation as a leader has gone up). This was an aspect of his game which nobody had too much information about,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“But this now, the way he has led the team, the way he has got them together, the way he has got them to gel together means he has got leadership qualities.
“When you have leadership qualities, it automatically opens the door for honours at the national level to be able to captain the Indian national team in the near future.
In the low-scoring final, Pandya played a key role in Gujarat Titans' seven-wicket victory over former champions Rajasthan with a 30-ball 34 after picking up three wickets for 17 runs. In IPL 2022, he took eight wickets apart from scoring 487 runs.
Talking about Gujarat's dream run in IPL 2022, Hardik said that this year, the first-ever batch of franchise wanted to leave a legacy for the future stars.
"This is going to be a special one because we spoke about creating a legacy and making sure this is for the generation to come, everyone will remember that this was the team who started this journey and the first year [for us in the IPL] to win the championship is very special,” Hardik told Star Sports.Live TV