Hardik Pandya had hardly captained even in junior cricket when the Gujarat Titans named him their skipper ahead of IPL 2022. However, the all-rounder took up the challenge and led the team with aplomb as they won the crown in their debut season.

Thereafter, whenever regular captain Rohit Sharma was unavailable, Pandya led India in eight T20Is including the just-concluded ones against Sri Lanka and out of them, Team India won in six of them, losing one with the other being a tied affair.

Having done a pretty impressive job as a captain too, Pandya credited the Titans head coach Ashish Nehra for the latter’s support that made his job easier. “I’ve never led in junior cricket as well.

“When I was in U-16, I led Baroda. After that, everyone thought that I should focus on my game. Since then, I didn’t lead (a team). But what has been very important from the Gujarat point of view is the kind of coach I worked with,” Pandya said at the news conference later on Saturday, after the third and final T20I in Rajkot.

“Ashish Nehra made a big difference in my life, because of our mindsets. We might be two different personalities, but we have very similar cricketing thoughts.

“Because I was with him, it added value to my captaincy. It helped me to get exactly what I know.

“It was just about getting that assurance, and once I got that, it worked in my favour since the awareness of this game is something I always knew. It was all about knowing and backing what I knew already. It has definitely helped me,” Pandya emphasised.

About managing a young group of players in his team, Pandya said the focus is always on making sure the youngsters feel they belong at this level while also seeing to it that they learn from their mistakes.

“It’s a young group. They will make mistakes and will also learn from them, something that we have emphasised. Acceptance is very important in this sport. If you don’t accept it, things go very far.

“When a young team is there, it’s also about giving them confidence and ensuring that when they’re playing here, they feel that they belong here.”

Elaborating on the approach of his team with the bat, Pandya highlighted the aspect of intent which is pivotal to how well a team fares.

“There might be a day when we try to bat aggressively and yet score only 150. But what’s important is the intent.

“It’s not always about being aggressive in terms of hitting. You look for a boundary, and then if it’s a good ball, you respect that.”