VVS Laxman will be the interim coach of the Indian team in the absence of Rahul Dravid, who is on a break after the T20 World Cup. He addressed the press ahead of the 1st T20I in Wellington, and he talked about a lot of topics including Hardik Pandya’s captaincy.
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Hardik is not a part of the ODI squad, but he will be leading the T20I team with Rishabh Pant being his deputy. The last year was not easy for Hardik as he was dropped from the Indian team after the last T20 World Cup, and he made a brilliant comeback in the IPL 2022.
Pandya had a brilliant IPL 2022 with both bat and the ball, and he proved his captaincy skills as well. After the IPL campaign, he is now one of the most important parts of the Indian setup, and he would want to stay injury free.
VVS Laxman lauds Hardik Pandya’s captaincy skills
Indian interim coach VVS Laxman addressed the press ahead of the 1st T20I between New Zealand and India. Hardik will be leading the Indian team in this T20I series, and Laxman has a lot of praise for the leadership skills of the Indian all-rounder.
Hardik led the Gujarat Titans franchise in IPL 2022, and he won the title in the very first year of his captaincy tenure. Laxman said that winning a league like IPL is not a small achievement. He said that both he and Hardik spent a lot of time during the Ireland T20Is as well, and Hardik is not just technically sound but a calm captain as well.
“He is a fabulous leader. We have seen what he has done with Gujarat Titans in the IPL,” VVS Laxman said in the pre-match conference.
“Taking leadership in the first year of the franchise in the tournament, and winning the league is not a mean achievement. I have spent a lot of time with him since the Ireland series, he is just not only tactically sound, but he is very calm on the field and that is something which is very important at the highest level.”
Apart from talking about Hardi’s captaincy, Laxman said that the team needs a lot of all-rounders in their ranks to progress well in the T20I format. He also said that the team will look to have T20 specialists in their ranks going forward.
