“He utilized him well” – Danish Kaneria hails Hardik Pandya’s captaincy after 2-1 series win against New Zealand

Danish Kaneria recently praised Hardik Pandya for leading Team India from the front in the third T20I against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 1.

The former Pakistan cricketer hailed Pandya for utilizing Shivam Mavi properly in the contest as the pacer returned with a couple of wickets during his two-over spell. It's worth mentioning that Mavi picked up only one wicket in the last two games.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaneria said:

“Hardik Pandya looked tremendous. He also brought Shivam Mavi to bowl at the right time. He utilized him well. He is a very good captain. He is fearless and doesn’t care about wins or losses. Such a captain builds confidence in the team.”

Meanwhile, Pandya finished with figures of 4/16 and chipped in with 30 runs off 17 balls as Team India thrashed the Kiwis by a mammoth margin of 168 runs in the series decider.

---

“Nice to see the way Rahul Tripathi batted” – Danish Kaneria

Danish Kaneria also reserved special praise for Rahul Tripathi after the batter hit 44 off 22 balls, including three sixes and four boundaries. Tripathi also shared a vital 80-run partnership with Shubman Gill to recover the Men in Blue from 7/1.

“It was very nice to see the way Rahul Tripathi batted. He was in full confidence,” he said.

Kaneria concluded by crediting the team management for sticking with Tripathi and Gill despite their failures in the first two games as the duo delivered in the series decider.

“When you trust your players, they will surely deliver. You played Gill and Tripathi and they came out on top," he added.

Besides Tripathi, Gill slammed an unbeaten 126 runs off just 63 balls, including seven sixes and 12 fours. His performance helped Team India post a mammoth 234/4 in the allotted 20 overs.

A 2-1 series victory helped Hardik Pandya win his third consecutive series as T20I skipper. Team India earlier beat Sri Lanka 2-1 at home. They also won 1-0 in New Zealand last year.

The action will now shift to a four-match home Test series against Australia. The first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will begin in Nagpur on Thursday, February 9.

---

India’s squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Suryakumar Yadav.