Hardik Pandya's Problem Is He's Very Slim: Salman Butt Feels Indian Cricketer Needs Some Muscle On His Body To Undertake All-Rounder's Role Effectively
Published - 23 Aug 2021, 05:38 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:52 AM
Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt feels that Hardik Pandya needs to work on his physique to become an effective all-rounder for India. Salman Butt feels that the 27-year-old player needs to gain some more muscles to undertake the job of both batting and bowling during matches. After going through back surgery in 2019, Pandya has found it hard to bowl consistently for Team India.
Hardik Pandya, who is a medium pace bowler and right-handed batsman, has not bowled a lot of overs in international cricket this year. His inability to bowl consistently has also dropped him from the Test squad.
He last played a Test match during India’s tour of England in August-September 2018. Moreover, he has also faced issues while bowling in recent times, which was witnessed in the ODI and T20I series against England in March this year.
Hardik Pandya’s Problem Is He Is Too Slim To Take Extra Load On His Body: Salman Butt
While speaking on his YouTube channel, former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt said that Hardik Pandya needs more muscles on his body to get into the all-rounder’s role once again.
“India had high hopes from Hardik Pandya, but he has been on a long layoff period. He looks very skillful when he bats. And when he was bowling before injury, he looked very effective with decent pace. But again, Pandya’s problem is that he is so slim, if there is extra load on his body, he will keep getting unfit,” Salman Butt said.
“He needs some muscle on his body. Skill-wise, he has a lot of capacity to become better and better. The way he bats and bowls… he has a very good bowling action. But again, his body cannot take the excess workload. That is what needs to be managed,” the 37-year-old further added.
Salman Butt also cited examples of former top all-rounders like Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, who were far fitter and double in size than Pandya.
“If you compare Pandya with Kapil Dev or Imran Khan, they were far fitter than him. You can watch their YouTube videos. They were double in size, and had more muscle. I don’t know if there is any issue with his physique. The physios and trainers must be definitely talking to him about it,” Butt further added.
