If you compare Hardik Pandya with Kapil Dev or Imran Khan, they were far fitter: Salman Butt

India’s ace all-rounder Hardik Pandya has turned to be a match-winning asset for India on various occasions. Making his way through both bat and ball, he rose in the crunch situations for the team and stormed through victory. However, ever since he got his back surgery done, there have been many highs and lows in his career and he has been struggling to get going.

He didn’t pick up the ball for quite long and this is why his place in the Test format is still in question. In the same light of events, former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt opened up on his views on the Indian all-rounder. Butt talked about his load stating that he is too lean to carry the bowling responsibilities and will keep getting unfit like this.

“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 the injury, he looked very effective with a decent pace. Hardik’s problem is that he is so slim, if there is an extra load on his body, he will keep getting unfit. He needs some muscle in 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. His body cannot take the excess workload. That is what needs to be managed,” said Butt while speaking on his YouTube channel.

I don’t know if there is any issue with Hardik Pandya’s physique: Butt

Further adding his views about Pandya, Butt compared him to the great all-rounders of the past, that is, with the likes of Kapil Dev and Imran Khan. Butt added that both Khan and Dev had more muscles and a sturdy physique which supported their careers and the Gujarat all-rounder suffers on that front.

“If you compare Hardik 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 Hardik Pandya’s physique. The physios and trainers must be definitely talking to him about it,” concluded Butt.