Dilip Vengsarkar Thinks Hardik Pandya Is A Real Captaincy Option For Future

Hardik Pandya, who will captain India for the first time in the T20Is against Ireland, is seen as a long-term captaincy possibility, according to former India captain and selector Dilip Vengsarkar.

Vengsarkar expressed his admiration for Hardik’s managerial abilities in the IPL 2022, as he guided Gujarat Titans to a championship in their first season. Another former selector, Roger Binny, agreed with Vengsarkar but expressed concern that Hardik may under bowl in his role as captain.

Hardik Pandya Is A Fine All-Rounder: Dilip Vengesarkar

“He came into bat at the fall of two wickets in the IPL 2022 final. He led from the front and guided the team very well in his first major tournament as captain. An allrounder plays an important role in the team.

“He is an option [but] it depends on the selectors, their vision and plans,” Vengsarkar said on the sidelines of the launch of the 1983 World Cup Opus, a limited edition coffee table book in association with Paymentz, an Indian payment gateway platform.

Hardik Pandya Got To Watch Out For His Injuries: Roger Binny

“He’s got to lead from the front. Sometimes you tend to over-bowl or under-bowl yourself – a lot of times as a captain you do that. But then you have other players on the side to advise. You have to keep performing.

“When you get the post of captain/vice-captain, you have got to lead from the front and got to be consistently playing. He’s got to watch the injuries because he tends to be under the weather. So that’ll be utmost on his mind and also in the minds of the selectors and those watching,” Roger Binny said at the same event in Mumbai.

Since making his India debut in 2016, Hardik’s career has taken a few turns. He has gone from a dangerous lower-order hitter to an injury-prone all-arounder to an IPL-winning captain.

Until the five-match home T20I series against South Africa earlier this month, he had also been nursing a long-standing back problem and had not played for India since they were eliminated in the group stages of the 2021 T20 World Cup.

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