Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has opined they will want to get the best out of Hardik Pandya’s skills in the upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa. Pandya has been in staggering form and recently led Gujarat Titans to glory in their first season of the Tata Indian Premier League 2022.

The all-rounder led from the front and got the best out of his players. While mostly batting at number four, Pandya amassed 487 runs in 15 matches at an impressive average of 44.27 and scored his runs at a strike rate of 131.27 in Tata IPL 2022 and thus played a huge role in the success of his team.

However, Dravid revealed Pandya will play a slightly different role for the team as he is expected to return to take the finishing job.

Rahul Dravid said in the press conference, “Hardik’s leadership was impressive right through the IPL. You need to be designated leader to be part of the leadership group. From our perspective, we would want to get the best out of his skills, batting bowling and fielding.”

On the other hand, Dravid feels Umran Malik still has a lot to learn and he is improving with every session. Malik had impressed with his express pace in the recently concluded IPL 2022 while playing for SunRisers Hyderabad. The gun fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir had scalped 22 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 20.18 and an economy rate of 9.01.

“He’s quick and improving with every session. He has a lot to learn. We have to be realistic about the game time because we have a large squad.”

Umran Malik will look to grab his opportunity with both hands in the series against the Proteas. The first T20I between India and South Africa will be played in Delhi at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.

India’s T20I squad: KL Rahul (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik