Hardik Pandya‘s appointment as Gujarat Titans skipper bore fruit for the franchise with the all-rounder leading the side to the Indian Premier League title in their debut season. Not only did Hardik Pandya show exceptional leadership qualities but he also led from the front by performing with both the bat and ball. There were concerns over his ability to bowl in IPL 2022, but the 28-year-old swatted them all away with some terrific performances, particularly in the IPL final. Hardik Pandya ended the tournament with his highest run-tally in a single IPL season, and to add to that also took eight wickets.

With the IPL done and dusted the focus will shift back to international commitments for the players. Eyes will be on Hardik Pandya on how he performs in the blue of India, when they host South Africa for a five-match T20I series, beginning June 9.

An important point to note is that Hardik Pandya batted higher up the order for GT than he usually does for Team India. And having done so well with the bat in IPL 2022, it will be interesting to see where he comes into bat when India take on South Africa.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar weighed in on where Hardik Pandya could bat in Team India colours.

“I think he’ll probably be slotted at five or six. Just imagine, if India has a Hardik Pandya and a Rishabh Pant at five or six. They can probably swap around a little bit — that is going to be some explosive combination from the 14th to the 20th over. In six overs, you can probably expect even may be 100-120 runs. They are capable of doing that. So, that’s going to be an exciting aspect. That’s something I’m really looking forward to — Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya batting at five or six,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports following GT’s IPL triumph.

Promoted

This season, Hardik Pandya had his best season with the bat in IPL, scoring 487 runs in 15 games at an average of 44.27 and a strike-rate of 131.27.

His previous best runs tally in an IPL season was 402 runs from 16 matches for Mumbai Indians during 2019 edition.