India all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who had led Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 and took them to victory in their debut season, also captained the national team in the two-match T20I series against Ireland. Several former players have said that he has huge captaincy potential in the longer runs. Now, Pandya has said that he will be 'more than happy' if he becomes a full-time captain. In the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma, Hardik led Team India in the fifth and final T20I of the five-match series against West Indies on Sunday at Lauderhill, Florida. Team India defeated West Indies by 88 runs to clinch the T20I series by a margin of 4-1.
"Yeah! why not? If I get an opportunity in the future, I'll be more than happy to do that, but right now we have the World Cup, and we have the Asia Cup [coming up]," said Hardik in a post-match presentation.
"We're going to focus on that and make sure as a team what we're doing, we continue [with that] and make sure that all the skillsets, which we are learning we can keep getting better at it, and at the same point of time enjoy the game as well," he added.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma had spoken about the team having so many captains and said that fantastic that the side now has so many leaders within the group.
"I think it's very important to have that leadership, but obviously, you know we play the IPL and it's a 10- team tournament. So, there will be 10 captains which at some stage will be a part of the Indian team as well," Rohit had said on Star Sports' show "Follow The Blues".
"You know, I think it's fantastic because honestly my job is much lesser as these guys understand everything pretty well. So, it's just about if someone's having a thought, how am I going to backup that thought. For me as captain that is my role and that is what I'm trying to do," he added.