Gujarat Titans spinner R Sai Kishore opened up on leadership similarities between Hardik Pandya and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Sai Kishore played for the first time under Pandya’s leadership last year as Gujarat lifted the IPL trophy in their debut season. While the left-arm spinner played for Chennai Super Kings for a couple of years before joining the Titans.
Kishore, who played under both Dhoni and Pandya’s leadership, suggested that both are calm as captains and handle things in a similar fashion.
“Hardik and Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) are pretty similar in the way they handle things, they both are pretty calm,” Sai Kishore told the media during a virtual interaction session on Friday.
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“One thing that I really admire about Hardik is his ability to handle success and failure equally – that is something very unique about him. He is a level-headed guy and that works (for him),” he added.
Sai Kishore aloso talked about the defending champions tag and said that the team will look to replicate the success of last year in IPL 2023
“The tag of being defending champions is up to us whether to take it or not. We played well last year and that is why we won. I think if we can do that (then) the tag won’t matter much,” he said.
Sai Kishore said the new rule of having an ‘Impact Player’ in IPL will make it more manageable than what it was in domestic circuit.
“It is more like the super-sub rule where we can either use a bowler or a batsman. It is basically like playing with 12 people. We have already played with this (rule) in domestic (cricket). The only change is that we can use it till the 20th over, in domestic it was restricted to the 14th over. In 20 overs, it should be a lot easier to handle,” he said.
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The Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner said he is eyeing a place in the Indian side via strong performances in the IPL.
“Yes, there are a lot of left-arm spinners in India and this (IPL) is a very good opportunity but I would like to be here now in the present and play well for Gujarat. In the last five years, my skill-set has gone up and I want to keep improving. If it happens that I do very well in the IPL, I am going to play for India,” he said.
However, Sai Kishore admitted that he has to improve his batting to come into national reckoning.
Talking about a place in the Indian team, he has to work on hi batting to make a case for himself in the national set-up.
“It is a work in progress. I have done well in domestic (cricket) also. I know the areas where I am good at and areas where I need to work on. I am trying to put in hours into my batting and fielding,” he said.
“In the IPL and higher you go, you want to bat at the top. In Tamil Nadu, I have had the luxury of batting at the top in a few games. The death overs batting needs more work and attention. Finding a pattern or formula to score quick runs is what I am working on,” Sai Kishore concluded.
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