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Leading from the front
Kaif - who was present at the Narendra Modi Stadium on the day of the IPL 2022 final - was left impressed by Pandya the captain.
In a virtual interaction organised by Sony Sports, Kaif told the media, "I was there at the ground for the finals in Ahmedabad. I saw him captaining there live. His field placement was outstanding. He is also a good man-manager because the way his players performed under pressure told me the story of nice vibes around the team.
"He's backing his players; he was standing at mid-off and was talking to his players, especially to the bowlers when they felt the pressure in terms of bowling in death overs. If you ask me personally, I was very impressed with his captaincy. There are a lot of teams playing the IPL from the very first year (and) have not done what Hardik did: winning the IPL title as a captain in the very first year."
Hardik can win Ireland T20I series
Asked if Pandya's promotion to India's captaincy was a reward for captaining and proving his leadership credentials as a Gujarat Titans skipper, Kaif said, "When he captained, what I saw as a player was in Hardik Pandya, he's ticked most boxes in captaincy. Because winning the toss, seeing the conditions, he was spot-on (with his decision-making). Sometimes he batted first, he chased target, given the roles to batters as well as bowlers. Also, his form was very crucial, he was batting at three, four; coming into power-play, and batted till the end apart from bowling a few overs.
"Hardik did a good job with captaincy and if you see with Gujarat Titans, you could say they were not the strongest side after the auction. Few other franchises had done a good job. But it's about how you play and perform on the field on that day. You want to pick the best eleven to win the series (against Ireland). Hardik can do that; he has done well for Gujarat."
Pandya and Karthik could be finishers
Kaif sees the duo of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik as players who will play a critical role in India's quest of winning the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November.
"I have been saying that if you see the top-order, you have lots of players there like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, (Shreyas) Iyer. But to finish the game, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik will be playing a major role as India need finishers who can play with higher strike rate.
"So, I see these two repeating the same things again and again. Like they did against South Africa and in the IPL as well, their form will be crucial against Ireland and when they play T20Is against England and then moving forward from there. If India has to win the World Cup, they will be playing a crucial role," Kaif signed off.
