Reports – Hardik Pandya to lead Ahmedabad franchise in ITL 2022
Hardik Pandya (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Amidst all the uncertainty around the Ahmedabad franchise, it has now been reported that Hardik Pandya will be leading the franchise in Indian T20 League (ITL) 2022. Considering the fact that the last few months saw the all-rounder struggling with his injuries, this comes as a piece of emphatic news for him, as well as his fans.
According to RevSportsz, Pandya is all set to lead the Gujrat-based team. It is to be noted that this would be the first time that the Baroda all-rounder captains an ITL team. For all these years, he was playing for the Mumbai. However, the five-time champions decided not to retain him in the upcoming ITL 2022 mega auction.
If him leading the new franchise is true, then the move could safely be termed as a marketing masterstroke. This is mainly due to the fact that the 28-year-old is a local lad and thus, making him the captain would draw the local crowd’s attention towards the franchise.
In the meanwhile, it has also been reported that the former Indian seamer Ashish Nehra is likely to become the head coach of the new franchise. It is also understood that Gary Kirsten and former England cricketer Vikram Solanki would also be a part of the coaching unit. The franchise has also targeted the talented Indian wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. The report further states that the Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan is on their radar as well. The veteran journalist K Shriniwas Rao carried out these major developments.
While he had earlier mentioned that Shreyas Iyer was likely to lead Ahmedabad, he corrected himself that Pandya will lead the franchise in another Tweet. These major developments come in the wake of CVC getting the much-awaited clearance from the BCCI. They have finally received the Letter of Intent (LOI) from the BCCI.
