Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq believes Team India’s rising star Hardik Pandya can become a much better version of himself although he is nowhere close to legendary all-rounders and Word Cup-winning captains – Kapil Dev and Imran Khan.The Baroda all-rounder had a bitter-sweet 2019 season which was mostly marred by back injury and rehabilitation. Despite remaining sidelined for long, Pandya bounced back to earn national call up for the South Africa series.
Speaking to news agency PTI amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Razzaq opined that Pandya has the spark to be a great player and it will be better if the Mumbai Indians (MI) star remains keen on improving mentally as well as physically. “Pandya is a good player but he can be a much better all-rounder. It is all about hard work. When you don’t give enough time to the game, it drifts away from you,” Razzaq told PTI.
“He has to prepare better mentally as well as physically. As you have seen, he has been getting injured a lot of late (underwent back surgery last year). When you earn a lot of money, you tend to relax. For every player it is the same. Mohammad Amir did not work hard enough and his performance dipped,” the former Pakistan all-rounder added. Razzaq then went on to add that Pandya is nowhere near the league of Kapil and Imran as the former legendary captains are the best all-rounders in the history of the gentlemen’s game.
“Kapil Dev and Imran Khan are the best all-rounders of all time. Hardik is nowhere near that league. Even I was an all-rounder but it doesn’t mean that I would compare myself with Imran bhai. Kapil paaji and Imran bhai were in a different league,” said Razzaq, who played 46 Tests, 265 ODIs and 32 T20 Internationals,” Razzaq added.
