India vs England: Remove The All-Rounder Tag From Hardik Pandya, Says Harbhajan Singh

Slamming Hardik Pandya's performance in the ongoing Test series against England, India spinner Harbhajan Singh said the 24-year-old doesn't deserve to be referred to as an all-rounder. Harbhajan has criticised Pandya who has failed with both bat and ball in the first two Tests against England. Pandya has scored 90 runs in four innings and has managed to pick 3 wickets in the series so far.

"He (Hardik Pandya) hasn't got many runs as a batsman and the captain doesn't seem to have confidence in his bowling. If he doesn't bowl in these conditions then things will only get difficult for him and the Indian team in the future," Harbhajan told AajTak

Harbhajan went on to compare Pandya's performance with the likes of England all-rounder Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes who have contributed really well in their team's victory.

"We have to remove the all-rounder tag from him as an all-rounder contributes in both the departments as Stokes, Curran did in the first Test and now Woakes has done at the Lord's. The same is expected of Hardik Pandya, he cannot become Kapil Dev overnight!," the spinner added.

After losing the first Test at Edgbaston, India suffered a humiliating innings and 159 runs loss at the hands of England in the second Test at Lord's.

"As a bowling unit, we tried but all of a sudden the ball stopped swinging and they - (Chris) Woakes and (Jonny) Bairstow - took the game away," Pandya had said after the match.

"It happens - I've seen in Tests. You get four or five wickets quickly and then you get one partnership. Even with our batting line-up, it has happened many times. It's just a part of the game," Pandya said.

Pandya has played 9 Tests so far and scored 458 runs at an average of 32.71, including one century and three fifties.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team England Cricket Team Harbhajan Singh Hardik Pandya England vs India, 2018 Cricket