ENG vs IND 2018: We Have To Remove The All-Rounder Tag From Hardik Pandya: Harbhajan Singh

Veteran Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has lashed out at Hardik Pandya after the India allrounder’s lukewarm performances in the ongoing England vs India Test series.

The first two Tests in the series so far has been dominated by the allrounders so a certain extent. But sadly all the allrounders were from England. In the first game, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran played key roles in taking England home in the low-scoring thriller.

In the second at Lord’s, Chris Woakes replaced Stokes and proved his worth. It was a performance that he would remember for a long long time. The right-handed allrounder scored his maiden Test ton and picked up four wickets to bag the Man of the Match award. England, on the other hand, had gone on to thrash India by an innings and 159 runs to go 2-0 up in the five-match series.

But sadly, India’s premier allrounder Pandya is yet to make his mark in the series. He has struggled with the bat in swinging conditions and has not managed to make a mark with the ball either. He went wicketless in the opener before picking up 3 wickets in the second. With the bat, he has scored 90 runs so far.

It is definitely not the performance that everyone was expecting from a player who was drawing comparisons with the legendary Kapil Dev not very long ago. And Harbhajan is also not impressed with the allrounder. In fact, the off-spinner did not refrain from using some harsh words. Harbhajan said that one needs to remove the allrounder tag from Pandya’s name.

“He (Pandya) hasn’t got many runs as a batsman and the captain doesn’t seem to have confidence in his bowling. If he doesn’t bowl in these conditions then things will only get difficult for him and the Indian team in the future,” he was quoted as saying by India today.

“We have to remove the all-rounder tag from him as an all-rounder contributes in both the departments as (Ben) Stokes, (Sam) Curran did in the first Test and now (Chris) Woakes has done at the Lord’s. The same is expected of Hardik Pandya, he cannot become Kapil Dev overnight!” he added.