“Captaining Gujarat has changed his mindset a lot”: Rashid Khan exclaims Hardik Pandya’s hard work as Gujarat Titans captain made him a mentally tough character

Gurpreet Singh | 30/08/2022
"Captaining Gujarat has changed his mindset a lot": Rashid Khan exclaims Hardik Pandya's hard work as Gujarat Titans captain made him a mentally tough character

Rashid Khan exclaims Hardik Pandya’s stint as Gujarat Titans skipper this year brought the best out of him across all aspects of his game.

Had it not been for Hardik Pandya’s all-round performance with both bat and the ball on Sunday during team India’s Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan, the story could have been something else for the defending champions, who sealed a nail-biting chase of a rather modest total.

The match-winning Six, preceded by three crucial boundaries during the penultimate Over of the match, paved the way for India’s five-wicket victory versus their arch-rivals at the Dubai International Stadium. Earlier, a three-fer, with bowling figures of 4-0-25-3, was instrumental in restricting Pakistan to a fairly gettable target.

The rise and shine of Pandya ever since the commencement of his days as the Gujarat Titans skipper this year, has been a one to remember for him and the cricketing fraternity so far, which also saw him captaining the Indian side during their 2-0 victory in the away T20I series against Ireland in June.

Rashid Khan exclaims Hardik Pandya’s hard work as GT skipper did wonders for him

Pandya not only took the huge call of leading the brand new Gujarat franchise despite a long return back from injury, but also nailed the same by lifting the title in their debut season itself.

Moreover, averaging 44.27 with 487 runs across 15 innings, he also emerged to be the highest run-scorer for GT in the season.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who was part of the IPL champion side as well, and also their second-highest wicket-taker (19 wickets), spoke at length regarding the hard work put in by his IPL team skipper, which has now made him a mentally strong character, delivering match-winning performances for the Indian team.

“Hardik Pandya likes to take responsibility. Captaining Gujarat has changed his mindset a lot, he knows his strength, takes the game deep, bats through the innings, and is mentally strong in any situation. India missed him a lot in the previous matches. The hard work he put on during the IPL helped him,” remarked Rashid ahead of Afghanistan’s clash against Bangladesh in their second match of Asia Cup 2022 today.

Post Edited By: Gurpreet Singh
Hardik Pandya rashid khan

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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