Hardik was appreciated for his leadership skills by fans and experts alike.
Senior batter-wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha played a significant role in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) victory at the IPL 2022.
GT went on to lift their maiden IPL trophy in their debut season of the world's richest T20 league under Pandya’s leadership, who debuted as a captain in this edition of the league.
Talking about Pandya's leadership, Saha showered praises on the Indian all-rounder, who has earned a callback to the white-ball side of India.
Hardik was released by Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of IPL 2022, post which, GT picked him up for 15 crore rupees. With an IPL trophy up his sleeves in his captaincy debut, Pandya is being widely touted for his leadership skills.
Speaking to Sportskeeda after the ending of IPL 2022, Saha was asked about former Indian skipper MS Dhoni's influence on captain Pandya.
"Dhoni is a great leader, but Hardik has just started [his captaincy]. You need to bring the whole team together and appreciate every individual to foster team spirit. Hardik has done this exceptionally well. All the support staff members like Ashish Nehra, Gary Kirsten, Vikram Solanki and Aashish Kapoor have contributed significantly to the team’s success. We had short team meetings because we kept things simple. It’s not necessary to have 20-minute-long meetings," Saha said.
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Pandya has been highly praised by many senior cricketers which included the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Gary Kirsten, and others.
The former Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter added that he also observed a significant change in Pandya's batting style while leading the Ahmedabad-based franchise.
"While playing for the Mumbai Indians, his role was that of a big hitter in the lower middle order. He looked more mature and took added responsibility while batting at No. 4 this season. You could say that he was our middle-order fulcrum. He backed every player in the team and instilled the belief that everyone is a match-winner. It was because of this belief that even Rashid won us a few matches with the bat," Saha added.
(Sportskeeda inputs)