I Can’t Come Close To Kapil Dev At The End Of The Day- Hardik Pandya On Comparison With Great All-Rounder

India all-rounder Hardik Pandya refused to be compared to great Kapil Dev despite many other experts calling the Baroda cricketer the next incarnation of the great 1983 World Cup-winning captain.

Ever since the retirement of Kapil Dev in 1994, the Indian cricket team is yet to produce another all-rounder of his calibre. In between, there have been candidates, such as Irfan Pathan, and currently Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, but the search for the next Kapil Dev still continues.

Hardik Pandya was once of the closest India ever got to finding someone of the same calibre as Kapil, but his progress was hampered after he suffered a serious back injury in 2018 and then struggled to get to that same level he was once at. This led to him taking time off from the game after recovering from surgery and returning more fitter in IPL 2022 and even bowled regularly.

I Have Still Not Achieved That Five Percent Of What He Did: Hardik Pandya On Comparisons With Kapil Dev

While plenty has been spoken about the similarities between Kapil and Hardik, the 28-year-old India all-rounder has politely turned the comparisons down. He said if he can do even an ounce of what the former India World Cup-winning did during his playing career, Pandya would consider himself lucky.

“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 percent of what I have done… I have still not achieved that five percent. So for me, it’s people and pundits’ jobs to compare,” Hardik said on the SG Podcast.

Hardik Pandya recently won the IPL 2022 leading the Gujarat Titans to the titles. This was his first time captaining a side at this level.

“For me, I am just a Hardik Pandya who is trying to get better. I can’t come close to Kapil Dev at the end of the day. He has been the greatest cricketer of all time. The kind of impact that he had on the game… from bowling to batting, fielding, yeah, the comparisons end from my side. It is still up to people but respectfully I will deny that,” added Hardik.

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