Ever-since Hardik Pandya’s stint as a captain in the Ireland series and also in the fifth and final T20I against West Indies brought victory to Team India, fans and experts from all over the world have been suggesting that the all-rounder should be considered as a full-time skipper. And now former New Zealand Scott Styris did not shy away from sharing views regarding the star all-rounder and said that he won’t be surprised if Hardik gets the command of the Indian T20 side.
“I think it’s an intriguing discussion because again, six months ago, I don’t think it’s something we all thought would even be talked about, but Hardik Pandya has made every poster winner, as Saba says. And you know, you see it a lot in football, where players of character and personality are often given the armband to be captain to also allow them to show some responsibility,” said Styris on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’.
“So, I don’t mind this for Hardik Pandya to be given some leadership in this side, whether it now be the vice-captain or in the future as a captain because quite rightly what is the direction this Indian team wants to go, whether it’s T20 in terms of its brand, how do they want to play the game? Because Hardik Pandya certainly has the personality of today’s player, where they want to go out and expand and show their skills and really just show off to everybody with how good they are. And I think that sort of leadership actually breeds itself and lends itself throughout the team to everybody playing with that style. So, I wouldn’t be surprised maybe not for this tournament, but in the future that we do see Hardik Pandya leading this T20 team,” he added.
Earlier, when Hardik had led Team India to victory in the fifth and final T20I against West Indies, he expressed that he will be ‘more than happy’ if he becomes a full-time captain.
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“Yeah! why not? If I get an opportunity in the future, I’ll be more than happy to do that, but right now we have the World Cup, and we have the Asia Cup (coming up),” Hardik had said in a post-match presentation.
“We’re going to focus on that and make sure as a team what we’re doing, we continue (with that) and make sure that all the skillsets, which we are learning we can keep getting better at it, and at the same point of time enjoy the game as well,” he added.
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