Afghanistan talismanic spinner Rashid Khan has said he will be more than happy if Hardik Pandya is permanently made the captain of India’s T20I team. Pandya had led Gujarat Titans to glory in IPL 2022 while leading for the first time in the tournament.

The all-rounder was able to lead from the front as he scored 487 runs in the competition and also delivered in the all-important final with the ball. Subsequently, Pandya led the national team for the first time in the two-match series against Ireland.

Pandya also recently led in the three-match series against New Zealand and took the team to a 1-0 win. Pandya has shown that he can be calm in tensed situations and the IPL experience of leading Gujarat Titans has definitely helped him a lot.

Rashid told IANS: “Pandya is a fantastic player. I think he deserves to be captain of the national side. I have played under him. I will be more than happy if he is made permanent captain of the India T20 side. It is difficult to manage players and he understands it so well and did his job brilliantly in the IPL.”

“I will be more than happy if he gets that chance. And I wish him all the best for that, also I am waiting to be part of Gujarat Titans again next year and play under him.”

Meanwhile, experts like Kris Srikkanth have backed Hardik Pandya to take over T20I captaincy baton from Rohit Sharma for the 2024 T20 World Cup. Rashid added you feel good about it when people are talking about the same.

“If people are saying, you feel good about it) but till something happens officially, you can’t say. To be honest, my thing is simple, if I do one match or one series, I will lead the team my way, how I see and perceive the game.

“Whenever I am given the opportunity, I will always go out and play the brand of cricket I know. As a unit, we will display my brand. As far as whatever (captaincy) comes in future, we will see.”

Hardik Pandya will be in action in the ODI series against Bangladesh, beginning from 4th December in Mirpur.