Watch: "I don't need captaincy to lead" — Hardik Pandya opens up on his India captaincy journey

The premier pacer-bowling all-rounder of the Indian side, Hardik Pandya, has reflected on his journey as the captain of the blue brigade. During a recent interaction, he shared his thoughts on leadership and the responsibilities that come with captaining the national side under pressure. 

Hardik has always stood as the leader of the national side in the two white-ball formats in the absence of the stand-in captain and has done a superb job with both bat and ball in hand. He claimed to have the belief that leadership is defined by actions rather than only a few titles.

Hardik Pandya: "You don't need to be captain to be a leader — I never doubted myself"

The veteran all-rounder explained, during a recent conversation on SGTV, that he never chased the leadership roles and felt that he could influence the side without being the official captain. He feels that earning the trust of the teammates and setting the right example are two vital aspects rather than having ‘c’ beside one’s name.

Watch Hardik Pandya's words here- 

“When it comes to leadership, I never doubted myself. I don’t play for roles or the say on my name. It was always about knowing that I am a leader, knowing that I have the power and presence in any team that I play, where all 11 will follow me if I ask them. I always believed that you don’t need to be a captain to be a leader. You can be a leader as a player as well.” Hardik expressed on the podcast.

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The Baroda-born reckoned that captaining the Indian side has been a proud moment. He also added that he would choose to concentrate on contributing to the team’s success.

“Very fortunate and grateful. I never played for that. But it’s a dream of everyone who starts the journey to just play for India, but captaining is another honour. But that feeling was only for five minutes. After that, it was about thinking what we can do better. I loved the moment for five minutes and cherished it. I don’t keep all these things too close, as it can go anytime.” Hardik noted in the same interaction.

Hardik Pandya's captaincy record for India: 16 T20Is, 3 ODIs and a title-winning IPL legacy

Hardik’s first captaincy stint came during the T20I series against Ireland in 2022 before leading the ODI team against Australia for the very first time in 2023. He captained the blue brigade in 19 international games across the two white-ball formats. He also led the Gujarat Titans (GT) and the Mumbai Indians in IPL history.

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In ODIs, he earned two wins and one defeat for India, while in the shortest format, he has got 10 victories and lost five games at a win-loss ratio of 2.000. In IPL history, they have got 37 wins in 70 games at a win-loss ratio of 1.12. 

In 2022, under Hardik, the Titans won the competition, beating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.