Poor captaincy, poor batting record, and poor performance with the ball—this sums up Hardik Pandya’s record in the IPL 2024, where he captained the Mumbai Indians and failed convincingly. MI came tenth, or bottom of the table. However, it’s also true that the same Hardik Pandya redeemed himself from all these and helped India win the T20 World Cup trophy. Whether it’s about scoring crucial 144 runs for India in important games or bowling the last six balls of the World Cup final and defending 16 precious runs against South Africa, he did an amazing job.
However, it looks like when it comes to the IPL, things are still not under Pandya’s control. Speculation is rife that he could potentially be released, and there is talk that Suryakumar Yadav could become the captain of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025. If this is the case, then there would be a few teams interested in this superstar. But more than any other team, the IPL 2022 champions, Gujarat Titans, may look to acquire his services again. Here are a few reasons why there might be space for him in the team he left to captain MI.
Why Hardik Pandya is best choice for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025
Lack of quality fast-bowling all-rounders in Gujarat Titans
The Gujarat Titans, who failed to replicate their performances of IPL 2022 and 2023, where they emerged as champions and runners-up respectively, struggled in IPL 2024 and came eighth. Apart from Shami’s injury, which was the main reason why they failed to scalp wickets, there is another issue that came under the picture: the lack of all-rounders.
They had Azmatullah Omarzai, Vijay Shankar, and Rashid Khan, but they failed to perform consistently, especially fast-bowling all-rounder Omarzai. In the seven games he played, he picked up just 4 wickets and conceded 186 runs with an economy of almost 9. This was an issue, especially in the first six overs and the death overs where controlling runs is a main task.
Also, with the bat, Omarzai did not have good outings whenever he got a chance. In contrast, when Hardik Pandya was with the team in 2022, he scored 487 runs and bowled 30.3 overs (8 wickets, economy 7.28). Even in 2023, he scored 346 runs (average 31.45, strike rate 136.76) and bowled 25 overs (3 wickets, economy 9.12). He was the batting anchor, holding one spot and capitalizing well. There is a strong chance that GT would like to replicate their past success, but they can only do so if they have this star all-rounder in their team.
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Quality leadership needed for GT in ipl 2025
Not taking anything away from Shubman Gill, but things are still new for him as there is time for him to learn the captaincy craft well. It’s evident in this camp that when Hardik was there, he was the master of the craft. With 45 IPL games of experience and almost a 60 percent winning percentage, he has been a terrific captain who understands where to use which player and when. In 2022, we also saw that whenever the need arose to take the field when the situation was tough, he chose the best players, which was the main key to GT’s success in the first two seasons.
However, in 2024, one thing that backfired when he was captaining for MI was that he always took the difficult overs himself instead of giving them to the best bowlers like Bumrah. As a result, he was thrashed by many batters. But in general, there is no doubt that he has emerged as the best captain all-rounder for whichever camp he has played.
Could be homecoming for Hardik Pandya
With over 130 domestic matches of experience and having more than 2000 runs and 148 wickets in total, there is no doubt that Hardik Pandya has been a key player, especially when he was playing for Gujarat. He understands the Ahmedabad stadium very well, having played 6 games there in T20 (ODI and FC not mentioned), scoring 116 runs batting down the order, and taking 7 wickets with a good economy. Pandya knows the ground well.
With the mega auction coming up, there are also rumors that head coach Ashish Nehra and Vikram Solanki might potentially leave GT. Despite this, Pandya understands the camp well, and having played for two years, it could be like a homecoming if he rejoins the team. Although Pandya was not well received when he was captain of the Mumbai Indians, things could change if he returned to his former team.
