Let Pandya Be Pandya!

Hardik Pandya is not, and never will be the next Kapil Dev. There are some players who come around once in a generation, and others once in a lifetime. Kapil Dev is the latter, a man who changed Indian cricket forever. There will never be another Kapil Dev, but, that is nothing to be sad about. Rather, there is a genuine opportunity for Pandya to EXPAND HIS GAME in such a manner that future generations will ask who the next Pandya is, writes ANAND VASU.

- Anand Vasu

It might be best to get the bleeding obvious out of the way right at the beginning.Not long ago, Twitter was sent into a feeding frenzy by Mohandas Menon, India’s leading statistician, by a tongue-in-cheek post. It read:

After 26 ODIs...

Kapil Dev: 472 runs, 28 wkts, 7 cts.

Hardik Pandya: 530 runs, 29 wkts, 10 cts.

The superficial conclusion to be drawn — and social media is the ideal place for such leaps of faith — is that Hardik Pandya is better than Kapil Dev. The more nuanced view, of course, is that Kapil’s One-Day International career began with modest returns, but he grew from strength to strength to become one of the finest all-rounders the game has ever produced.

That Pandya should be compared to Kapil is only natural. Just as England went through decades in search of the next Ian Botham, India has been obsessed with unearthing the next Kapil Dev. The fact of the matter is that this needless pursuit has been the kiss of death for many a budding all-rounder.

Also, if you believe it is only overenthusiastic fans who are making the comparison, you would be dead wrong.

M. S. K. PRASAD, the chairman of the senior selection committee, kicked this particular door wide open soon after Pandya had scored his maiden Test century. “If he stays grounded, I am sure we will see him being compared to the legendary Kapil Dev in the times to come.” said Prasad, adding: “I am very happy to say that our search for an allrounder has been successful in the form of Hardik.”