Cricket News

‘XYZ can say whatever they want’ – Ravi Shastri gives a rebuttal to Sunil Gavaskar’s remark of Hardik Pandya emulating his 1985 feat

Ravi Shastri backed Hardik Pandya to the hilt during his tenure as a coach.

Sep 17, 2022 7:01 pm

Hardik Pandya was not in the best of form and people were calling for his axing from the Indian Team but he proved everybody wrong by having a wonderful stint at Gujarat for the Indian T20 League in 2022. He showed how he can play game changing innings with the bat at number 4.

He exhibited his bowling prowess by bowling 4 overs with good control and speed in most of the games. This earned him a place in the Indian Team and the all-rounder didn’t disappoint this time around.

He performed well for India as well in the recent matches that he played in. He led the side in the two match T20 series that happened in Ireland, recently, and also stepped in as a standby skipper when Rohit Sharma was rested for a T20 international against West Indies.

Hardik Pandya is considered as a lethal all-rounder in modern times, and in this context, Sunil Gavaskar said that Pandya has the ability to replicate what Ravi Shastri did in the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket in 1985.

Ravi Shastri was out of the world in that tournament, and he won the title of Champion of Champions there.

“I think he could possibly do what Ravi Shastri did in 1985 where Ravi was the outstanding performer with both bat and ball in the entire tournament. Some good catches as well. Hardik Pandya is capable of doing that,” said Gavaskar in an interview with Sports Tak.

Ravi Shastri, however, has offered a rebuttal to it and said that in his books, Hardik Pandya is a world-class all-rounder and he does not care of what anyone else says.

“I have already tweeted and posted on Instagram that he is the no. 1 all-rounder in this format of the game. What else do you need? I had said it two weeks back. What else is there to add or subtract? XYZ can say whatever they want, everyone is entitled to his opinion. My view is clear, which is what I tweeted a couple of weeks ago,” said the 60-year-old to Sports Tak.