When former India opener and selector Kris Srikkanth stated that Hardik Pandya reminded him of Kapil Dev, Hardik Pandya minimize in to say, “He [Kapil Dev] is the greatest!”
In a pleasant post-match interplay on Star Sports, Srikkanth prefaced his remark by saying “I am not comparing Kapil Dev and you; just talking about the kind of impact” Pandya says “He is the greatest. Thank you sir!”
Moments in the past, prodded by Srikkanth, Pandya would use a Tamil slang: “Kalakara machaan! (You rock mate!). Immediately, Srikkanth replied, “Nee daan daa Kalakara (its you who are rocking!) I’am a great fan of you!”
A couple of months again, on a SG podcast, Pandya had talked in regards to the Kapil comparability, saying he hasn’t even achieved even 5% of what Kapil did.
“I have very respectfully denied that (comparisons with Kapil Dev), because I don’t think I am close to him. What he did and the era in which he did it, I have always mentioned, that if I achieve even five percent of what I have done… I have still not achieved that five percent. So for me, it’s people and pundits’ jobs to compare,” Hardik stated on the SG Podcast.
Per week earlier than the T20 world cup, Kapil had spoke about Pandya’s influence and the comparability to him. ”Even in our days, we had loads of all-rounders within the India crew. In our days too, we had idols, and we used to observe them. It’s good that new benchmarks are being set by younger cricketers. It’s an excellent signal for a crew and I consider that everybody ought to preserve working arduous to set a lot larger benchmarks.”
