IPL 2022: Hardik’s thinking cap is on, it has raised his game – Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar feels that the Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya’s discipline while batting and making good use of field restrictions has raised his game. According to him, Pandya has his “thinking cap on” this season.

The star all-rounder has led the Gujarat Titans from the front and has contributed some important knocks as well as bowling performances for several wins of Gujarat.

Pandya had struggled to manage his bowling workload post his back surgery in 2019. His last appearance for India was against Namibia in the T20 World Cup in Dubai on November 8 last year.

“He didn’t play a lot of cricket before the IPL because he was trying to get fully fit with all the problems he had due to the injury,” Gavaskar said.

“(Now) Look at the discipline he’s showing in his batting. He’s batting well in the powerplay and making full use of the field restrictions, he’s doing exceedingly well in the field. So basically, that thinking cap is on; and once that happens your game just goes up,” he added.

Former India batter Aakash Chopra said Pandya has learnt the right lessons from his “mentor” Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“I think Hardik treats him (MS Dhoni) as his mentor, he’s very close to MS. The number at which he bats and the role that he plays, nobody has played it better than Dhoni in the history of white-ball cricket,” Chopra said.

Former India pacer Irfan Pathan too lauded Pandya for his game in this edition of IPL.

“This is a new Hardik Pandya. This is a better version of him. It was nice to see the situations in which he has played this season. The good thing about Hardik is that he is batting responsibly at No. 4. Whether it is team India or Gujarat Titans, Hardik is the most suited batsman at number four. This is because he can take the responsibility,” said Pathan.

(Inputs from PTI)