Legendary Indian captain Kapil Dev wants Hardik Pandya to “work harder on his batting” as that is his primary skill as an all-rounder.
Pandya scored 93 runs in the first innings of the 1st test in South Africa. He however disappointed in future matches and didn’t manage to score a single half century.
Kapil Dev in an exclusive interview with PTI said “He (Pandya) has shown the glimpse. He has the talent and the ability. Comparing with anyone put more pressure on him. I would like to see him go and express himself, enjoy himself,”.
For Kapil, any all-rounder should be strong in one of the two skill sets and for him Pandya is primarily a batting all-rounder.
“I would like to see him in the team for one reason, definitely either as a bowler or as batsman. He has to work little harder on his batting because he is a batsman all-rounder. If he can perform a little more with the bat, the bowling will come easy to him and thats what happens to all-rounders,” added Kapil.
Kapil said that Pandya is too young and fans are expecting too much from him.
“We have started expecting too much from him soon but I think he has the ability and is one of the finest athletes in the team. But he has to work harder to achieve success as an all-rounder” he said.
Talking about next years World Cup, Kapil said that India will require both current skipper Virat Kohlis aggression and his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhonis calmness to lift the trophy once again.
“If you can have the combination there is nothing wrong because you need to have somebody on the field who is calm and quiet and also understand the game and somebody who is very aggressive,” Kapil said about the deadly combination.
But if everybody is very aggressive, then its difficult. And again if everyone is calm, then also it is difficult. So if you can have a combination of both aggression and calmness, I think it will help the team.
Kapil also talked about India’s terrific cricket in South Africa to bounce back in the limited overs series after a disappointing outing in the first two Tests in South Africa.
T”hey (India) could have done better in the Test series but they ended really well. They won hands down in the shorter formats in South Africa, which we never did in the past. It was outstanding display. Had they played the first two Tests, a little better it could have been a different story altogether,” said Kapil.
Virat was brilliant but I think the wrist spinners have really done a great job. Just a year back (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin, two top-class cricketers, were there but now they are not getting a chance and that shows the depth of Indian cricket at the moment.
Its amazing how despite some top cricketers like Sachin, Rahul, Sehwag, Laxman retiring in the last 5-6 years, this Indian team has bounced back so quickly and thats a good sign for Indian cricket, Kapil added.
Kapil believes India can do well in England and Australia under the leadership of Virat Kohli.
“His character shows that he believes he can do it but for that he has to work very hard. As a captain, you have to take the team along with you and if he can do it, there is no reason why India cannot win in England and Australia. I have no doubt this team can do that but they have to work very hard,” he signed off.
