Hardik Pandya can be the next Kapil Dev but right now he is nowhere close to him: Scott Styris

Hardik Pandya has played just 8 Test matches and is relatively younger in his career having made his debut in 2017. But since he is an all-rounder and quite flashy with his personality there are a lot of expectations from the flamboyant cricketer to deliver almost every time. He had a great chance to prove himself in the 1st Test against England when he was batting with the tail and the Indian team needed less than 50 runs to win.

He failed to get them over the line and as a result, has been heavily criticized and his contribution in the team has also been questioned. Pandya scored 22 in the first innings and 31 in the second, with the ball skipper Virat Kohli used him for 10 overs in the first innings and none in the second as he went wicket-less. As opposed to him, England’s Ben Stokes had a fabulous game where he didn’t make a lot of difference with the bat but bowled a few amazing spells claiming 6 wickets in the match.

Pressure of expectations on Pandya

Former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris thinks the reason for Pandya’s underperformance is the burden of expectations which make him want to do a lot more than he can and then ends up delivering lesser in fact. He wants the 24-year-old to focus on making meaningful contributions and do the small things right.

“Everybody expects Pandya to win games. He also tries to deliver to those expectations and ends up doing too many things. Currently, I would just like him to make meaningful contributions in every game like the way Stokes did,” Styris told TOI.

“If he can do small things right, we would see him taking the next step of becoming a match-winner. Throughout the history of the game, we have seen allrounders challenging each other. So I hope Stokes can motivate him,” he added.

He can be the next Kapil Dev

Scotty has seen Pandya closely especially during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and believes the youngster has immense potential. What he has done to date according to the Kiwi is just at the surface of his real potential and with time he should be able to explore it better.

“I have seen Pandya from close quarters and I know how good he can be. India has only been scratching the surface of his potential. He can be the next Kapil Dev in this country but right now he is nowhere close to him,” he added.

“It’s a difficult job to be a frontline bowler and a frontline batsman. What happens is that the batting will dominate one season while it might be bowling in the next. It happens to every allrounder. So Pandya has to find the right balance,” said Styris.

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