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Since Team India crashed out of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia from the semi-final stage, demand for an overhaul in the T20 format is rising from all corners. Rohit Sharma and the men were heavily criticized for their conservative nature of playing the format and prominent faces from the cricket fraternity named Hardik Pandya as a probable candidate to lead the T20I squad in future.
Even former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri mentioned the name of the Gujarat Titans skipper as a strong candidate to succeed Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, South Africa's prolific batter and Hardik's teammate in the IPL, David Miller, has backed the allrounder for the top position in the squad, stating that Indian cricketer is a natural leader.
"Leadership comes naturally to him; people follow him as he allows everyone to play the way one wishes to. He is very inclusive as a leader; he wants everyone to be close to each other. At the same, he is clear with discipline. He has got a lot of good attributes of a leader. Even in IPL, he got better off everyone as the season progressed. I have witnessed him grow as a leader during IPL," David Miller told PTI on the sidelines of the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10 league.
The Proteas cricketer further spoke about South Africa's shocking defeat in the T20 World Cup 2022 by the Netherlands, which dropped the curtains on their campaign.
"I did reflect on the loss. Sometimes it isn't easy to process things like that. I still feel we were one of the stronger teams in the competition. There were many other upsets as well; it was not only us. It came down to the last game, and unfortunately for us, we needed to win, and we couldn't. That is the beauty and humility of cricket. Obviously, very disappointed with that result," the 33-year-old said.
