Comparisons are inevitable in cricket. There have been greats of the game who have set a benchmark and whenever a young player does well, he/she is compared to those greats. While Sachin Tendulkar was compared to the likes of Don Bradman, Virat Kohli is compared to the ‘God of Cricket’. When it comes to fast-bowling all-rounders in India, no one comes any closer to Kapil Dev.
The World Cup-winning captain was one of the best all-rounders of his generation as he single-handedly won quite a few games for his team. India failed to produce a fast-bowling all-rounder like Dev for decades. Now, as Hardik Pandya is playing a similar sort of role for India, many have compared the Baroda cricketer with Kapil Dev.
As Pandya played a crucial role in India’s win over Pakistan on Sunday (23 October), former India opener and selector Kris Srikkanth reserved high praise for the cricketer saying he reminded him of Kapil Dev. In a friendly post-match interaction on Star Sports, Srikkanth prefaced his comment by saying, “I am not comparing Kapil Dev and you; just talking about the kind of impact”.
Hearing this, Pandya was quick to react as he cut Srikkanth and said, “He is the greatest. Thank you, sir!”
Watch the video here:
This is not the first time Pandya has brushed aside the talks of comparisons between the two cricketers. The 28-year-old, a few months back, had said that he hasn’t even achieved 5% of what Kapil did.
“I have very respectfully denied that (comparisons with Kapil Dev) because I don’t think I am close to him. What he did and the era in which he did it, I have always mentioned, that if I achieve even five per cent of what I have done… I have still not achieved that five per cent. So, for me, it’s people and pundits’ jobs to compare,” Hardik had said on the SG Podcast.
