Is Hardik Pandya a Team India leader for the future?

Hardik Pandya has led the Indian T20I side on a few instances and garnered success. Is he a future leader in the making? Here’s what Scott Styris feels.

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When it comes to Team India, it has seen quite a few skippers of late across formats. From KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah to Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, all have tried their luck at the leadership role and have tasted success, barring the former. Meanwhile, the latter happens to have garnered quite a few eyeballs of late with his leadership qualities. It all started in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, leading new franchise Gujarat Titans (GT) to the title win on debut, which also happened to be his maiden season as the captain. Also, his success while leading the Indian side has also compelled former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris to consider him a future leader.

Talking on a SPORTS18 show, Styris cited, “I think it is an intriguing discussion because again, six months ago, I do not think it is something we all thought would even be talked about. But, Hardik Pandya has made every poster winner. And, you know, you see it a lot in football, where players of character and personality are often given the armband to be captain also to allow them to show some responsibility.”

“So, I do not mind for Hardik Pandya to be given some leadership in this side, whether 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?” added Styris.

“Because Hardik Pandya certainly has the personality of today’s player, where they want to go out and expand and show their skills and show off to everybody with how good they are. And, I think that leadership 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, we see Hardik Pandya leading this T20 team,” Styris concluded.