Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Hardik Pandya should take Kapil Dev comparisons positively. Being a seam-bowling all-rounder and the promise Pandya has shown in the recent past, the Baroda player is often likened with Kapil Dev.
However, it is palpable Hardik Pandya also feels the pressure. Pandya was criticised heavily before the third Test for his mundane performance. In fact, Pandya was able to bounce back with an impressive show as he scalped his maiden fifer in the red ball format.
Let me be Hardik Pandya – the all-rounder had said earlier.
Thus, Pandya hit back at his critics in style and said he don’t want to get compared with Kapil Dev and want to play as Hardik Pandya.
Meanwhile, Irfan Pathan recalls the time when he was also compared with Kapil Dev when he did well.
“Everybody came up to me and I remember being asked this Kapil Dev question. I had done well in Pakistan in 2006, standing up against Shoaib Akhtar with the bat, won the Perth Test match, the World T20 in 2007,” Pathan recalls.
“It felt like a privilege. It added to my confidence than adding to the pressure,” he says.
Thus, the southpaw all-rounder said everyone has his own methods of handling things. Subsequently, Irfan Pathan says Hardik Pandya should take the comparisons positively.
“Everyone has a different character and they handle things differently. I can’t read his mind currently. But you know Kapil Dev was a once in a lifetime cricketer. For a player the mindset should be to take it positively, it should not weigh you down,” he says.
Irfan Pathan also recalled Rahul Dravid advise to him. Dravid had said the pressure will always get manifold with the more experience as the veteran players are expected to deliver more often.
“I recall when I was new in the Indian team, Rahul Dravid told me one thing that I always remember that the longer you play and the more senior you become, the pressure will become bigger, it will never reduce.”