“Don’t compare Hardik Pandya with me”, says Kapil Dev

India’s first World Cup winning captain, Kapil Dev has lashed out at Hardik Pandya for not keeping his head during crucial moments of the 2nd Test, ultimately proving to be catastrophic for the Indian cricket team.

Hardik Pandya ran himself out in the first innings when Kohli and him were building a strong partnership by successfully countering those reverse-swing strategies from the South African bowlers.

Pandya though committed a school boy error, by not grounding his bat, after he was sent back by Kohli, after Pandya had driven one straight to mid-on.

The Indian all rounder, plonked his bat back into the crease, with the ball hitting the stumps whilst his leg and the bat were in the air.

With that alone being a grave, grave mistake, Pandya came up with another one of those ‘schoolboy’ errors. trying to attempt a ramp shot over third man, when all India wanted was some sensible batting from him with Rohit Sharma out in the middle.

Kapil Dev, who has often been very supportive of Pandya, felt that he needed to work on his mental aspect before he could be of any good in overseas conditions.

“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,” Kapil said.

Kapil then went onto say that Pandya at present did not deserve to be compared to Kapil himself, as Pandya’s game isn’t quite up there according to Kapil.

“If Pandya keeps making silly mistakes like these then he doesn’t deserve to be compared with me,” Kapil Dev said.

While Pandya deserves to be criticised for his casual attitude during the 2nd Test, the way Kapil made the statement does not show him in very good light, as Kapil needs to refrain from making such bold statements about current players in the press.

Pandya will need to work on his attitude, if he wants to make it big for India across all formats, across all conditions.

India will play South Africa in the third Test at the Wanderers which begins on the 24th of January.