(UTV | INDIA) – Hardik Pandya not only resembles MS Dhoni, but he also is one of his closest friend. No surprises, people see a lot of ‘Mahi’ in Pandya. Just like former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar who got reminded of Dhoni just by watching Pandya setting his field and then making respective bowling changes during IPL Final.
Dhoni won four trophies with CSK and Pandya had already won one in his debut season as captain. On Sunday night against RR in IPL Final, Pandya not only put great field placements, he also led from the front, producing a brilliant bowling spell (3-17) which saw the wickets of Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Shimron Hetmyer.
He then came back and batted calmly to reach 34 runs and when it was looking like he will ‘finish it off in style’ just like MS, he was out off a ripper off Yuzvendra Chahal.
“Hardik Pandya bowled well. In batting too, he batted in all gears while playing at the crucial No.4 spot. He captained the team like MS Dhoni. R Sai Kishore bowled the 16th and 18th overs in the final,” Manjrekar told.
“His captaincy was similar to MS Dhoni’s, as he made the decisions according to match situations. He seems to be enjoying the captaincy and looks very relaxed,” he further added.
Furthermore, Pandya also equaled Dhoni in winning the number of IPL titles. Pandya, who had won the trophy four times with Mumbai (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020), also won it with Gujarat Titans, going past MS Dhoni who had four titles to his name. (2010, 2011 2018, 2021).
Hardik Pandya also equaled Anil Kumble and Rohit Sharma as he got man of the match award in the final. He became the third IPL captain to seal MOM award in an IPL final. Kumble had finished with 4 for 16 in the 2009 final for RCB against Deccan Chargers while Rohit had won the award following his 26-pball fifty for Mumbai Indians against CSK in 2015 final.