Hyderabad, India

India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has praised T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir after winning Player of the Series award in the recently-concluded 3-0 whitewash vs. Bangladesh. Pandya scored 118 runs and took a wicket across three matches. He scored the runs at an average of 59 and a strike rate of 222.64.

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"The kind of freedom the skipper and the coach have given, that has been fantastic to the whole group. That is coming to all the players who are playing. At the end of the day, this sport, if you can enjoy, that's the best way you can get maximum out of yourself. When the dressing room is enjoying, when everyone's enjoying everyone's success, you feel like doing more," Pandya said at the post-match presentation after the third T20I, which India won by 133 runs.

Also Read: India pacer Mayank Yadav reenacts Bhuvneshwar Kumar's UNIQUE feat in third T20I vs Bangladesh

Pandya started the series with a blistering 16-ball 39 in the first T20I, which also included a no-look upper cut off a pacer. In the third T20I, Pandya smashed an 18-ball 47, and one of his shots was a checked drive over the covers, which went for six.

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Pandya, who was touted as India's next T20I skipper, has rediscovered himself since getting injured in middle of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

He made a comeback from the injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as Mumbai Indians skipper for which he was booed by fans a lot.

The all-rounder, however, played an important role in India's T20 World Cup 2024 winning campaign and bowled the last over against South Africa in the final as well.

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For captaincy though, he was overlooked due to his injury-prone nature as per the selectors, and Suryakumar Yadav instead was handed the job after Rohit Sharma decided to retire following the T20 World Cup final.