IPL captaincy calms down Hardik: Shami

After he (Hardik) became captain, he has become more normal, his reactions have been tempered (mellowed). I have advised him to control his emotions on the field because the entire world watches cricket. MOHAMMED SHAMI Gujarat Titans pacer

Mumbai, May 13: The responsibility of leadership has considerably mellowed down an otherwise fiery Hardik Pandya, which has been the key recipe for Gujarat Titans’ first-season success in the ongoing IPL, feels senior pacer Mohammed Shami.

Shami has played a lot of international cricket alongside Pandya and has always found the flamboyant all-rounder to have wore his heart on his sleeve but in his first season as an IPL captain, he has been able to keep his emotions under check.

“After he (Hardik) became captain, he has become more normal, his reactions have been tempered (mellowed). I have advised him to control his emotions on the field because the entire world watches cricket,” Shami told mediapersons on Friday.

“It is very important as a leader to be sensible, understand situations and he has performed that role to perfection,” the veteran fast bowler added.

Titans are already in play-offs with 18 points from 12 games and Shami does give Hardik a lot of points for his captaincy.

“He has kept the team together. I have witnessed a lot of changes in him as a captain in comparison to a player,” said Shami, one of the star performers for GT with 16 wickets from

12 games.

Having played under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the national team along with multiple captains in different IPL teams, Shami knows that each one has his unique style.

“Every captain has different temperament. Mahi (Dhoni) bhai was quiet, Virat was aggressive, Rohit leads according to match situations, so understanding Hardik’s mindset is not a rocket science.”

Shami has been the highest wicket-taker GT with

16 scalps so far.

“As far as my performance is concerned, whenever I was given the white ball, I always tried to put in my 100 per cent. Not just this season, if you look at the last four seasons then you can see nobody (in teams that he played) took more wickets than me,” said Shami.