Hardik Pandya spent a lot of time with Dhoni, Virat but has his own brand of captaincy: Ex-India stumper

Hardik Pandya remains the talk of the town. He made a sensational comeback in competitive cricket, after the 2021 T20 World Cup, after having missed a plethora of series for Team India due to his fitness issues. In his break, he worked on his fitness and has returned in style, not only fulfilling the role of an all-rounder, but the 28-year-old has also shown his flair as a leader. 

During IPL 2022, Hardik led the debutants Gujarat Titans (GT) and took them to their maiden championship. His leadership style was hailed by many -- being calm and composed, positive, leading by the front and backing his core players -- as he also had a good run in the recently-concluded India-South Africa T20Is at home. India are now set to play Ireland in two T20Is, where Hardik will lead a second-stringed side. Ahead of his captaincy debut for India, former Indian stumper and selector Saba Karim lauded the all-rounder and stated that the youngster is still a different leader than MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, despite being groomed by them since his debut.

Speaking on TOI's podcast 'Sportscast', Karim said, "I think Hardik Pandya, although he spent a lot of time with MS Dhoni, spent a lot of time with Virat Kohli, he has his own brand of captaincy and the way he plays his cricket is so different from what Virat does or what MS Dhoni does. So you learn from so many great individuals who have been part of the side, but eventually, you bring your own leadership style onto the field and I think that's what he did."

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Karim was part of the selection committee when Hardik made his debut for India, in early 2016 during a white-ball tour of Australia. Recalling the time, Karim opined that Hardik has impressed with his maturity, change in lifestyle, etc. to bring desired results as a cricketer.

"If I remember correctly, he made his debut in 2015-16 (January 2016 in a T20I vs Australia in Adelaide), when I was part of the selection committee and since then he has grown not only as a person but also as a cricketer and it seemed like it had come to a stage where he really had to reinvent his lifestyle to become a more mature cricketer and that's what was seen in this season's IPL. And that is remarkable - it's not easy for athletes to do that at that level," he further added.