Former India legend Kapil Dev spoke about it does not look like Hardik Pandya will be taking part in too many red ball games in the future. Kapil feels that the all-rounder should play red ball games if he is fit, but doesn’t see that happening. There has been a debate going around whether Pandya’s body is fit enough to take the workload of Test cricket. The 29-year-old started playing Test cricket for India in 2017 in the game against Sri Lanka but then he has not taken part in a Test match since the tour of England in 2018.
“Doesn’t look like he will,” said Kapil Dev in an interview with TOI.
“I saw his photograph on the billboard today. I don’t know whether they did any touch-up or not, but in that, he looked like having one of the finest bodies we have in the country. Yes, he should play more cricket because he has so much ability. If he is fit, he should play Test cricket also,” he added.
The Indian team has not found a proper fast-bowling all-rounder ever since Kapil retired back in 1994. The 64-year-old player also talked about how there has been a scarcity of speedsters who can bat. But then the Indian team witnessed quality spin-bowling all-rounders.
“I don’t think it is right to compare players. Last 20-30 years, we have produced enough fast bowlers whom we can depend on. And that is more important. And it is not just fast-bowling all-rounders you require, you need spin-bowling all-rounders’ as well. And you have some decent ones in the Indian team. Jadeja is fantastic, and Ashwin is doing a great job. So it isn’t that we don’t have any all-rounders at all,” Kapil opined.
India’s veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has 489 wickets in Test matches and he also made five hundreds. Jadeja on the other hand has 275 wickets in his kitty and has three Test centuries.