Pakistani Journalist Slams Indian Media for Comparing Hardik Pandya with Ben Stokes
Sep 19, 2017 at 12:03 PM
Hardik Pandya has been turning heads with his sizzling all-round performances this year, but it seems not everyone rates the all-rounder highly as of now, and Pakistani journalist Fazeela Saba is certainly one of the handfuls of those.
Seen as the next big thing in Indian cricket, Pandya showcased his immense potential in his very first One-Day International game in October last year when he bagged the Man of the Match award. But while inconsistency was his nemesis in the first few months of his career, he has turned his career around and has now become an integral part of the team in all the formats.
After a highly successful Indian Premier League with the bat where he played a big role in Mumbai Indians successful campaign, the 23-year-old marked his arrival on the world stage with a sublime knock in the Champions Trophy final. On an otherwise dismal day for Team India, Pandya was the sole bright spot, as he slammed 76 runs off 43 balls in a heavy 180-run defeat.
His impressive performances saw him getting a place in the Test team for the Sri Lanka series, and he justified the decision by scoring a quickfire fifty on his debut before giving a Man of the Match performance in the third Test, as he scored 108 runs off 96 balls including eight fours and seven sixes.
He further elevated his reputation as one of the best all-rounders in the world right now with a match-winning all-round performance against world champions Australia in the first ODI on Sunday (September 17).
After coming to bat in a precarious situation with the team reeling at 87 for five, he scored 83 off 66 balls with the help of five fours and as many sixes. He also took two wickets including the prized scalp of Steve Smith to help the Men in Blue register a comfortable 21 runs (DLS method) win.
But while Pandya’s impressive performances have made many compare him with England star Ben Stokes who is arguably the best all-rounder in the world at the moment, Fazeela Saba does not think so.
She took to Twitter to admit Pandya is ‘undoubtedly the upcoming multitasked player’ but took a dig at the Indian media for comparing the Indian player with Stokes.
“Pandy (Pandya) undoubtedly is the upcoming multitasked player in cricket but his comparison with Ben Stokes by Indian media seems unjustified,” she tweeted.
https://twitter.com/FazeelaSaba1/status/909713295183110144