New Delhi: The legendary Kapil Dev, on Wednesday said that Hardik Pandya doesn’t deserve to be compared with him if he keeps on making silly mistakes, like he did in the second Test against South Africa where India went down by 135 runs.
Pandya was one of the best performers for India in the first Test in Cape Town where he struck a gritty 93 and took wickets as well but the 24-year-old needlessly threw away his wicket in both the innings in Centurion. The hard-hitting all-rounder is often touted as India’s next best all-rounder after the iconic Kapil Dev.
“If Pandya keeps making silly mistakes like these then he doesn’t deserve to be compared with me,” Kapil said in an interaction with ABP News.
In the first innings in Centurion, he was given run-out after he forgot to ground his bat while running and in the second when his team was in a spot of bother at 83/6, he chased a wide ball from Lungisani Ngidi, and edged it to wicket-keeper Quinton De Kock, who took a stunning catch to end his stay at the crease.
“He definitely has a lot of talent, he has shown it in the first Test but I believe he needs to work on the mental aspect,” added the 1983 World Cup winning skipper. Incidentally, it was Kapil who had praised the Baroda all-rounder after his heroics with both bat and ball in Cape Town.
Former Indian cricketer Sandeep Patil, who has also served as the chief of BCCI’s selection committee felt that it was too early to compare Pandya with someone like that of Kapil.
“I have played a lot of cricket with Kapil, really there is no comparison. Kapil played 15 years for India with terrific performance and Pandya is only in his fifth Test match. There is a long way to go,” Patil said.