‘Had never even led in junior cricket’ – India star all-rounder on leading a team in International Cricket

Since the start of 2022, Hardik Pandya’s reputation as an all-round player and skipper has steadily and quite shockingly increased. He began by guiding the Gujarat franchise to the Indian T20 League championship in their inaugural season in the league. Since then, Pandya has led India as their T20I captain eight times, winning six of those contests.

Pandya has thus far managed to win every series he has led India in, with their most recent victory coming on Saturday when they defeated Sri Lanka 2-1. He said after the game that he had only ever captained a team once, at the under-16 level, and never again.

“I have never led in junior cricket as well. When I was U16, I had led for Baroda but after that everyone said I should concentrate on my own game and so since then I had not really led a team,” Pandya told reporters after the game.

If you don’t accept it, things go very far: Hardik Pandya

Pandya credited former fast bowler and current Gujarat franchise head coach Ashish Nehra for helping him establish himself as a trustworthy leader.

“What has been very important was the kind of coach I worked with at the Gujarat franchise. Ashish Nehra made a big difference in my life – we are very similar in terms of cricketing thoughts. We might be two different personalities but when it comes to cricket we are very similar,” the all-rounder stated.

“Because I was with him, it added more value to my captaincy. It helped me to get exactly what I know. It was just about getting assurance, I always knew that I have a certain awareness of the game. It was just about kind of backing what I know already,” he added.

The 29-year-old has virtually always been the captain of Indian team with young, inexperienced players.

“Managing (a young team) is not difficult. But, at the same point of time, it’s a young group. They will make mistakes and learn from it. We emphasize that once you make a mistake, you learn from that. Acceptance is very important in this sport. If you don’t accept it, things go very far,” he said.