WV Raman feels that Hardik Pandya is becoming the new captain of Team India

Hardik Pandya has been a roll on the cricketing field for the past few months. The all-rounder exhibited a stellar performance in the Indian T20 League 2022, scoring 487 runs at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.27 with 4 fifties to his name.

Pandya led his franchise Gujarat to win their first-ever Indian T20 league trophy in their debut season itself. The all-rounder also gave good performances against South Africa in the recently concluded T20 series. He was also named the captain of the squad for the T20 series against Ireland.

Former India cricketer WV Raman feels that Pandya is becoming the new captain of team India. Raman said that the all-rounder has raised everyone’s expectations with his captaincy skills in the Indian T20 league. The former opening batsman praised Pandya for taking responsibility during the tournament.

“There will be excitement in this series because Hardik Pandya is becoming the new captain of the Indian team,” said Raman, during a chat with News24 Sports. “The way he captained an IPL team raises everyone’s expectations. His habit of taking responsibility was the best thing I found in the IPL. The expectation is that he will continue in the same way, will motivate everyone nicely.”

Raman also mentioned how Hardik’s all-round abilities can provide a good balance to the Indian team going into the 20-20 World Cup in Australia.

“The second thing is that Hardik Pandya is a good all-rounder, he has started bowling again, so this will give the team good balance when we go to the World Cup. Once his confidence increases in the bowling, Hardik Pandya becomes an extremely important member of the team,” said the former India player.

Raman was also asked whether Hardik should lead the team ahead of Rohit Sharma, to which he replied that people should wait to see how he leads the Indian team. He further said that it also depends on how the selection committee assesses the 28-year-old in the Ireland series.

“We will have to see what is their (selection committee) convictions, ideas, and views after seeing his captaincy so that they can make a decision based on that,” said Raman.