NZ vs IND | India need to find other leaders alongside Hardik Pandya going ahead, opines Irfan Pathan

With India’s exit from the semi-final of the T20 World Cup, they will be now looking to bounce back in the next ICC event to end the long wait for winning the ICC trophy. With the team’s debacle in the semifinal at the showpiece event this year, there have been talks of change in leadership. Many former cricketers questioned continuing Rohit as captain considering age is not on his side. Hardik Pandya has been backed for the role considering his leadership in the latest season of IPL. 

However, former cricketer Irfan Pathan has a different take regarding it and is of the opinion that Hardik is an injury-prone cricketer with his role as a fast-bowling all-rounder. Pathan further added that India needs to look for other leaders in case Hardik gets injured ahead of the World Cup. 

"I’m not saying that if you change the captain you change the result, if you go like that you’re not going to change the result. And with Hardik Pandya, you need to understand, we all need to understand, that he’s a fast bowling all-rounder. He has injury issues as well. What if he is your captain who is getting injured right before the World cup? And if you don’t have any other leader ready, you’ll be in a mess," Irfan said on a Star Sports show ‘Match Point’. 

"So, what I personally think is that Hardik Pandya is a leader, who has done very well in the Gujarat Titians, won IPL, won the championship trophy. You need to find not one, but two leaders going forward to build their mark. You know just like we talk about openers - we need to have a group of openers, we also need to have a group of leaders," he added.

Hardik contributed by taking eight wickets in the six innings at an economy of 8.11 while scoring 128 runs in the T20 World Cup 2022 including a brilliant half-century in the semi-final against England. India will lock horns against New Zealand in a white-ball series starting on November 18 and Hardik Pandya will lead the T20I side.