“Makes a big difference in my life: Hardik Pandya credits ex-Indian star for his promotion as ‘Captain’

Hardik Pandya has been unable to turn around since he led the Gujarat Titans to an IPL win in their first appearance last year, and India’s new T20I captain has credited the franchise’s coach him Ashish Nehra for making “a big difference” to his captaincy. Returning from a long hiatus due to injury, the top all-rounder has been named the Gujarat captain in a bold move by first-timers. But Pandya, who led only once at the senior level in a match against Australia, proved his detractors wrong and set an example.

“From a Gujarat point of view, what is very important is the type of coach I have worked with. Ashish Nehra has made a huge difference in my life, because of our mindset. We could be two. different personalities, but we have very similar thoughts about cricket,” Pandya said after leading India to a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka here on Saturday.

“Because I was with him, it added value to my captain’s armband. It helped me understand exactly what I know. It’s just about getting that assurance, once I got that… the perception of this game that I’ve always known. It’s all about knowing and supporting what I already know. It definitely helped me,” he added. .

Ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka, select India overhauled the team after the Rohit Sharma-led team failed to win the T20I World Cup in Australia, losing to eventual champions England in the semi-finals. .

Prior to this series, Pandya led India’s T20I team whenever Rohit was absent.

“I also never led the junior cricket team. When I was under 16, I coached Baroda. Then people thought that I should focus on my game. Since then, I have not led. lead (one side),” added Pandya.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)

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