India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has said that he is looking forward to the challenge of captaincy in the IPL after he was appointed as the captain of the Ahmedabad franchise. Pandya also added that the team is starting from scratch and can create new legacies and culture in the tournament.

The mega auction for the IPL  2022 is scheduled on February 12 and 13. The new season will be a more exciting season with addition of two new teams and the mega auction will give opportunities to teams for building their core. Lucknow Supergiants and Ahmedabad are two new franchises and both teams have announced their retentions ahead of the auction. Hardik Pandya is appointed as the captain of the Ahmedabad team. 

Along with Pandya, Rashid Khan and Shubhman Gill are other two players retained by the side. Team coach will be Ashish Nehra while Gary Kirsten will handle the responsibility of the team mentor. Reflecting on his captaincy, Pandya is looking forward to the challenge of the captaincy and will always help the players in the team whenever they will need. 

“There’s no manual of learning how to become a captain. I’ve always been a person who likes to take responsibility and I am looking forward to the challenge. As a captain, I want to ensure all the players have enough time from me. That’s what I’ve learnt and I’ll make sure my doors will always be open for them,” Pandya said, reported Cricbuzz.

“When someone is doing well, they don’t need anyone. When someone is having a bad day, that’s when they need you. As a captain, when someone is doing good, I will not bother them. When someone is down, I’ll be always available to them.”

Speaking about the approach of the team moving forward Pandya said that they are starting from the scratch and will create new legacies and culture.

“We are starting from scratch and I feel we can create new legacies, we can create new cultures which I want to endorse. It’s going to be a very exciting time,” he explained. 

Hardik Pandya has played under three captains. He has played under the leadership of MS Dhoni, was captained by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma was his leader while playing for Mumbai Indians. Pandya said that he would pick aggression from Virat, and learn composed nature from Dhoni. 

“From Virat, I would pick his aggression, passion and energy, which is tremendous. With Mahi bhai, I would pick the composed nature. From Rohit, I’ll let the players decide what they want to do. These three qualities I’ll take from them and bring here,” he stated. 

It was also reported that Pandya had asked Indian selectors to  not pick him as he was working on his fitness to be able to bowl. It will be interesting to see whether he can bowl in the IPL. Pandya said that he wants to contribute with the ball as well as with the bat. 

“It’s been challenging. I’ve always been someone who contributes with the bat, ball and on the field. When I decided I will just bat, I wanted to spend some time on the ground. We all love challenges and I love to fight it out. Criticism is good and it doesn’t really bother me. For me, results do matter but I work hard for the process,” he pointed out.

“I’ve always realised that as an allrounder I give a lot of different options to the team. I’ll try to work on being an allrounder and if something doesn’t work out then my batting is always there. But Hardik Pandya combined with both bat and ball, it sounds better than just a batter.”

“I’ve always been a cricketer who plays situations and if I have to go certain places where my team needs certain goals from me, as a group we will decide. I have not made any plans regarding that.”