Hardik Pandya is gearing up to captain Ahmedabad in IPL 2022. The all-rounder, who was associated to the Mumbai Indians since 2015, listed certain qualities he would want to pick from former Indian skippers MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. 

Talking to PTI, Pandya praised Dhoni, Kohli amd Rohit Sharma’s leadership. The 28-year-old has played under all three. After being released by the Mumbai Indians, he was roped in by Ahmedabad’s IPL team, one of the two additions to the league, for Rs 15 crore. He was named the captain. 

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Pandya said that he would like to bring MS Dhoni’s calm and composure, Kohli’s passion, agression and energy and Rohit Sharma’ s freedom to his captaincy. 

“From Virat, I will pick his aggression and passion, his energy which is tremendous. From Mahi bhai it’s the composure, calmness, remaining the same in every situation, trying to see what new things he can add,” Hardik said in an interview with PTI. 

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He further added that he would pick Rohit Sharma’s freedom. The Mumbai Indians captain is the most successful leader in the IPL. He has five titles against his name as skipper. 

“…and from Rohit, I would pick the freedom as he lets the player decide what he wants to do. These three qualities if I can pick up, it will be a very good combination,” Pandya added. 

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Opener Shubman Gill and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan were Ahmedabad’s other two picks. The side brought in Ashish Nehra as head coach and Gary Kirsten as mentor. They will head to the IPL 2022 mega auction with Rs 52 crore.