2022 Indian T20 League winner compares MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya’s captaincy styles

MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya will captain the Chennai and Gujarat sides respectively in the upcoming Indian T20 League 2023. The former led the team to four titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021. He led the team from 2008-2015, and then from 2018 and 2022. On the other hand, Pandya led the 2022 debutants, Gujarat for their maiden title. Meanwhile, the left-arm spinner, R Sai Kishore, who was part of the team has compared Dhoni and Pandya’s captaincy.

He said that both players are calm in nature and they are similar in many things. The left-arm spinner added that he admires Pandya’s attitude towards success and failures and how he is a level-headed guy. Notably, Pandya will lead the team for the second time while Dhoni is reportedly set to retire after the upcoming 16th season.

“Hardik and Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) are pretty similar in the way they handle things, they both are pretty calm,” Sai Kishore told the media during a virtual interaction session on Friday. “One thing that I really admire about Hardik is his ability to handle success and failure equally – that is something very unique about him. He is a level-headed guy and that works (for him),” he said.

Kishore also spoke about playing as the defending champions in the tournament. He said that the tag won’t matter much.

“The tag of being defending champions is up to us whether to take it or not. We played well last year and that is why we won. I think if we can do that (then) the tag won’t matter much,” he said.