India is blessed to have captains like Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Saurav Ganguly, Virat Kohli who have left a long legacy to follow. Each one of these were long term and full time captains for the team, and have brought laurels. Along with it they have nurtured the team and thought of the team ahead of themselves. Apart from these full time skippers, some stand-in skippers like Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane have brought victories during their short and temporary stint as well. The most common thing amongst all these captains was their individual interest put behind the team's and team-mates' cause.

That is the definition of a captain. We have seen many time in world cricket when the captains have thought about a milestone their teammates are about to reach, and thereby the captains changing their decisions a little to favour the teammate reaching the milestone. Rohit Sharma waiting for Kishan to score first ever run in tests, Virat not declaring till Karun Najr reaching 300 are some prime examples of it. These small actions give the teammates a signal to trust their captain even more. However, not all the captains for India have done it, as some of them fail to perform as a player as well as in their duties to boost the youngsters of their team.

The ongoing criticism against Hardik Pandya, the T20 skipper of India is an example of it. And he deserves every bit of it for his not so welcoming gesture which infuriated the fans as well as senior cricketers. The incident which happened in 3rd T20 has put Hardik into bad light yet again. Tilak Varma, who was batting exceptionally well, was on the verge of getting to his 2nd half century in his 3rd game itself. And it all looked like in all possibilities he was going to reach to there. Eventually it was Hardik Pandya who hit a six when 2 runs were required off 14 balls, leaving Varma stranded on 49 runs thereby denying him a half century.

The victory was sweet for the Indian team and fans, however the skipper's utter selfishness was not what they wanted to witness. Tilak missed out on a well deserved 50 due to the skipper's decision. The captain should lead the team in a way to motivate the youngsters, however it was completely the opposite. He instead denied the half century to a talented youngster. Varma, who is playing well and receiving praises for his batting, could have increased his confidence multi fold if he was allowed to reach to his half century. The motivation to go and perform would've been even more in that case, but the skipper had different plans.

What baffles everyone is the fact that there was nothing to lose for India in the match. The match was clearly in the hands of Men in Blue. There was no question of Net Run Rate as it was just a bilateral series. Also the ball on which Pandya hit a six was not the last. It was not even the case of 9 wickets fallen and then the skipper deciding to go for it himself as he doesn't want to risk the game. Absolutely everything was in India's control. And the worse it could've done is still give India a victory by maybe a margin of 2 more balls played. There is no justification of why Pandya did that, or if any, possibility is he will never give it in public. No one knows the hidden motives behind it, but everyone knows the outcome. This also goes on to say a lot about the captaincy of Pandya.

In the previous match too, he decided to stop Chahal from bowling his full quota of overs, when Chahal was destroying Windies lineup. Hardik instead chose to complete his full quota of overs instead of giving it to the bowler who was in form. And this senseless decision cost India the match. A tactical move and foolish decision go hand in hand. The best example of it was the Ashes early declaration by England in the first test of 2023 Ashes. Similar was the case with Pandya, as he fails to use basic sense at times. Whether it is to show that he is a genius, does he pull out unthinkable moves is a matter of question, however when he does, the unthinkable moves turn out to be thoughtless.

It's his false sense of belief that he knows everything that costs his team the game. At the IPL level, he boasts of being a good captain, thanks to an amazing team he possesses. But he brutally failed at the international level. And he has done it on most of the occasions when he got a chance to lead Men in Blue. Even when he tried to fancy his chances, there have been occasions when his abilities have been overshadowed by the sheer thinking process which he possess. And at the end is the poor result for him and the team.

Hardik Pandya's strong point is his attitude. His confidence and his attitude has helped him overcome his financial issues to reach to the level he is at today. However, the same attitude is now denying him to accept the fact that he is not the best. His overconfidence at times reflects in his statements. His statement of "India can pick any 3 teams and win again any opposition" backfired badly as even the main team is struggling to match with tough opponents at times. His disrespect to seniors of Gujarat Titans is visible time and again on the field. The only chance for him to improve is to understand that he has some issues like everyone has, and those need to be addressed. That feeling of being grounded will help him be a even better player and captain. The quality of player he is, is already astonishing, and only if he manages to tweak his attitude a little, he will be one of the best. Hopefully, that happens, and we see him as a better captain in the days to come.