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Cricket Players'His captaincy is a real lesson to many other skippers': Kirsten hails Hardik Pandya's 'massive role' in GT's success
Hardik Pandya led debutants Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in his very first season as captain of a team.
Gujarat Titans were not considered among the favourites to win the title at the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) but they put all their detractors to shame by winning it on a canter. They dominated the league stage, finishing top of the table with a two-point lead after 14 matches, and then beat Rajasthan Royals, who finished second, in Qualifier 1 and the final to win the title.
Experts and former players were almost unanimous in praising all-rounder Hardik Pandya in how he led the time. This was the first time Pandya led a team in any level of competitive cricket and he also proved his fitness in the tournament. Gary Kirsten, who was the Titans' batting coach and team mentor, gave a view from the inside as to how Pandya went about his business and how important he was to the team winning the title.
"Hardik Pandya played a massive role as a captain and a very different batting role to what he has done in previous IPLs; he thrived in that space, he loved it," Kirsten told Cricbuzz.
Pandya always came in as a finisher while batting for his previous Mumbai Indians and in the Indian team. However, he played higher up the order for GT and ended up scoring 487 runs with a strike rate of 131.26. He recorded figures of 3/17 in the final and scored 34 runs to be adjudged player of the match.
"He took on the responsibility of playing more of a middle-order, play-the-situation kind of role rather than just being a hitter at the back, and he did that fantastically."
“His captaincy was beautiful to watch and a real lesson to many other captains. He never chased the spotlight and the profile that comes with captaincy. He remained Hardik Pandya the person - easy to talk to, always asking questions about how he can improve, always humble about his own performance, always a calm energy on the field and always a little quirky off the field,” said Kirsten.
