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‘Hardik Pandya not trying to impose his personality on team’: Gavaskar's ‘Dhoni’ remark to laud GT captain
Sunil Gavaskar compared Hardik Pandya's captaincy with the great MS Dhoni and said the GT captain would leave a lasting legacy.
Although the sample size is smaller compared to MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya currently is the most successful captain in the IPL as far as win percentage is concerned. The Gujarat Titans captain has 16 out of 21 matches so far and has a win percentage of 76, which is considerably higher than Dhoni (58%) and Rohit (55). Hardik also led GT to the IPL title last year in their maiden season. Hardik may not have set the stage on fire with his batting this year but his captaincy once again has been top-notch. That is one of the major reasons why GT find themselves on top of the points table.
They reclaimed the top spot after registering a comfortable 7-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday. Hailing Hardik's captaincy, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said the all-rounder is going to leave a lasting legacy. "Sometimes the captains try to keep their personality and the team's personality the same. The personality of the captain and the team could be different. Hardik is not trying to impose his personality on the team. That's what Hardik is doing with GT. This is going to be his legacy as a skipper.
Also read: MI head coach Mark Boucher's smashing reply to Gavaskar's 'Rohit Sharma needs break from IPL for WTC final' remark
The legendary cricketer also compared Hardik with the great MS Dhoni.
"He's very similar to MS Dhoni in his approach as captain and imbibed the good qualities from his former India skipper," Gavaskar said on Star Sports Cricket Live.
Invited to bat, young Afghanistan keeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz slammed 81 off 39 balls but KKR managed a below-par score of 179 for 7.
Gurbaz hit seven sixes and five fours in his scintillating knock while 'birthday boy' Andre Russell (34 off 19 balls) also used long handle to good effect towards the end.
GT chased down the target with 13 balls to spare, reaching 180 for 3 in 17.5 overs. Vijay Shankar remained not out on 51 while Shubman Gill and David Miller contributed 49 and 32 not out respectively.
"The way they (Noor and Little) bowled was great. I would have taken 180 on that wicket on any given day. In a group, we know that to win the game, irrespective of the situation, we have to play good cricket. That humbleness is helping us win games of cricket. They are respecting the situation, we want to face it and it is just about playing good cricket and being smart," Hardik said after the match.
