“I would give Hardik Pandya 100/100 as a captain” - Mohammad Kaif mighty impressed with GT skipper’s leadership skills

Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif is highly impressed with Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik Pandya’s leadership in IPL 2022. Hailing his captaincy skills, the 41-year-old said that he would give full marks to Hardik, the skipper.

Hardik, who was released by the Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, was one of Gujarat's draft picks. Some apprehensions were raised when he was named captain, but the 28-year-old has answered critics by leading GT to the top of the IPL points table.

The all-rounder will once again be in charge when Gujarat take on the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2022 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday (May 24).

Previewing the match for Sportskeeda, Kaif credited Hardik's leadership for playing a big role in the team’s success. He said:

“I would give Hardik Pandya 100/100 as a captain. He has been excellent as a leader. He stands at mid-off and keeps interacting with bowlers. The bowlers are always under pressure and, when the captain is standing next to them, they can interact with him after every ball. There has been no lapse in coordination between bowler and captain.”

Apart from impressing as skipper, Hardik has also had a good tournament with the bat. In 13 matches, he has scored 413 runs at an average of 41.30 and a strike rate of 131.52.

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“The management of GT has worked well with the players” - Mohammad Kaif

Kaif admitted that Gujarat did not look like a very strong IPL team on paper after the IPL auction. In fact, not many critics gave them a chance of finishing in the top four. However, according to Kaif, the franchise’s management has done a very good job with the players. He stated:

“The management of GT has worked well with the players. On paper, they did not look like a strong team. After the auction, many people did not rate them highly. Hardik Pandya was new as captain. They even picked up their wicket-keepers, Matthew Wade and Wriddhiman Saha, very late in the auction. Lot of people were wondering what they were doing. Their strategy was confusing.”

Owned by CVC Capital Partners, former Indian left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra is the head coach of the franchise. South African legend Gary Kirsten is the batting coach and mentor while former England batter Vikram Solanki is the director of cricket.