Hardik Pandya, who has been touted by many as India’s next Kapil Dev, has seen his stock plummet over the past two Test matches with several former cricketers taking objection to him being treated as an all-rounder with capabilities similar to that of the great Kapil Dev. First it was former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and now it is former West Indian great Michael Holding who has questioned his abilities as a Test all-rounder.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo the Jamaican said, “The [Indian] attack has not been the right balance. Apparently they are playing Hardik Pandya as an all-rounder to help out with the bowling. When he bowls he isn’t as effective as he should be. If he was a good batsman, if he was getting runs – 60s, 70s, not even regular hundreds – at the number at which he bats and then he bowls and gets two or three wickets, happy, hallelujah. Happy with that. But he is not getting the amount of runs that can then allow him to get a wicket or two in the Test match. That doesn’t work.”
Hardik Pandya has so far scored 90 runs at an average of 22.5 in the series and two of the three wickets picked up by him have come while the batsmen were looking to accelerate.
“I don’t think he does a lot with the ball. That is number one,” Holding added. “He is not consistent. He does not have the control that puts batsmen under pressure constantly. He will bowl a couple of good deliveries, yes, but you need to have the control to put batsmen under pressure consistently. And he doesn’t have that. If you are going to be a frontline bowler anywhere in the world, if you are going to be someone that your captain can rely on, that can throw you the ball and expect you to get wickets and expect you to have control, he is not really the man in my opinion.”
