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New Zealand speedster Lockie Ferguson heaped praise on Hardik Pandya, hailing his impact as a leader. He recalled playing under the swashbuckling batter for the Gujarat Titans and claimed to have enjoyed his captaincy.
Pandya, likely to lead India in T20Is in the near future, created a strong impression in his captaincy debut in IPL 2022. The 29-year-old ushered the Titans to the crown in their first season of the tournament while also shining as an all-rounder.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the third T20I against India in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Ferguson compared Pandya to Kane Williamson. He claimed that the Indian ace is the players' captain and lauded his strong body language.
As quoted by the Indian Express, Ferguson said:
"Hardik, I have a very high regard certainly from day one, playing underneath him in Gujarat Titans, he is a clear leader within the group and demands the audience very quickly. But, at the same time, I guess, similar to Kane Williamson, he has time for everyone in the group."
He added:
"He’s done well with India. You can see his body language has been fantastic with the group and I think, he is an exceptional leader for the country. But certainly, I enjoyed my time playing under him."
The Baroda-born all-rounder made his captaincy debut in international cricket against Ireland and has lost only two T20Is out of the seven he has led in.
"I thought it was a pretty competitive series" - Lockie Ferguson on the preceding ODI series
Reflecting on New Zealand's winless ODI leg, Ferguson feels the 3-0 scoreline isn't the correct reflection as it was a close series. He added that he is looking forward to the T20 series decider in Ahmedabad. He said:
"Look, the one-day series was challenging, certainly the first ODI we had our chance to win it. And then, outplayed in the second one, and in the third one, we were sort of lined out well too. So although on paper it’s 3-0, I thought it was a pretty competitive series. And then, in the T20s, it’s been pretty even throughout. So always nice to come to a decider, particularly in a lovely stadium like this."
Reviewing the low-scoring affair of the second T20I in Lucknow, the Auckland-born bowler stated that such games are hugely exciting.
"We play a lot of T20s here in India, and around the world and we have those high-scoring games. And as a bowler, I think sometimes those sort of lower scores, probably not the 100, but lower score games actually are just as exciting and brings a good battle between bat and ball."
He added:
"So I think for the game, it’s great. Certainly I’m sure fans prefer the big, high- scoring matches but, as a cricket player, that can be pretty exciting."
The hosts restricted the Kiwis to 99 in 20 overs in the second T20I, but it took India 19.5 overs to reach the target. The third and series-deciding T20I will be played in Ahmedabad on February 1.
