Former Indian Cricket Aakash Chopra believes that Indian All Rounder and Mumbai Indians Captain Hardik Pandya is not a finished product yet. Chopra feels Hardik Pandya’s success as a Captain in Gujarat Titans was because of his duo with Coach Ashish Nehra. Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra formed a spectacular bond where Nehra’s game plan and instincts alongside Hardik’s smart tactics and game awareness helped Gujarat finish on top in both IPL seasons.
In his first season as Captain in 2022, Hardik Pandya led Gujarat Titans to win the IPL Title. In 2023 as well Gujarat Titans finished runner ups to CSK by a very short margin. Notably in both IPL 2022 and 2023, Gujarat Titans finished at the top of the table during the league stage under Hardik’s leadership.
Chopra said that Hardik is still in the development process of becoming a polished captain. It will be Mumbai Indians’ responsibility to provide Hardik with significant guidance and game plans which Nehra used to do for Gujarat Titans. It will be quite interesting to see if the duo of Hardik and Jayawardene could reach the heights of Hardik and Nehra duo.
Aakash Chopra not convinced with the leadership skills of Hardik Pandya
Aakash Chopra in his daily sports show #Aakshvani talked about Hardik Pandya as a captain and the role Ashish Nehra has played in guiding and helping Hardik Pandya to become such a successful captain in IPL.
“It’s my understanding and not some inside news when Hardik Pandya decided to move from Gujarat Titans, Captaincy may be a partt of the deal. This decision would have been definitely communicated to Rohit Sharma as well. Rohit would have also been briefed about Mumbai Indians’ future plans.” said Chopra on JioCinema’s daily sports show #AAKASHVANI
“I think Nehra had a tremendous role in making Hardik the captain he was at Gujarat Titans. So Mumbai’s job is cut out. They have to provide inputs at a different level to Hardik to replicate them on the field, because I don’t think Hardik, as a captain, is a finished product yet.”