Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Holding talking about me means I'm worthy of Test cricket, says Hardik Pandya

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been training hard to regain full match fitness for upcoming limited overs assignments for the national side. Pandya had injured himself during the recently concluded Asia Cup. He had picked up an acute back injury while playing against Pakistan in the group phase of the tournament. Subsequently, he was ruled out for the remainder of the Asia Cup and is yet to find a place in the Indian team.

Hardik has already missed out on an opportunity to play during the upcoming series against the Windies. Immediately after his injury, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was roped in – both in Tests and ODIs – fulfilling the middle-order role to great effectiveness.

Jadeja was amongst the wickets, and also notched up his maiden Test century during the Windies Test series. Pandya, on the other hand, was criticized for not playing to his full potential especially in the Test series against England.  The cricketer has come under the scanner for wasting his abilities in the longest format by former greats such as Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Holding.

While Gavaskar had blasted Pandya for not fulfilling his potential during the Test series in England, Holding had affirmed that the player is not a ready all-rounder for Test cricket and shouldn’t be compared to the legendary Kapil Dev at all.

I take comments in a positive way: Pandya

When asked whether he was disappointed by Gavaskar’s and Holding’s comments during an interview with the Times of India, Hardik said, “No sir. Why would it hurt? They’ve played so much cricket. Let them say it. It’s OK. I’ve heard them so much. I respect that. I’m worthy enough that they’re talking about me. If I wasn’t, they wouldn’t have said anything about me! I take it in a positive way.”

Hardik wasn’t entirely successful in seamer-friendly conditions, neither in South Africa nor in England. In terms of his contributions with the bat, he has remained inconsistent. The management has been understandably left wanting more out of him given his massive potential with both bat and ball.

Sunil Gavaskar was rather disappointed at Hardik’s selection as an all-rounder for the England Test series, saying, “Do you want to call Hardik Pandya an all-rounder? Whoever wants to call Pandya an all-rounder, may call! But I don’t think so.”

Meanwhile, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Michael Holding had said about the Indian all-rounder, “Apparently they are playing Hardik Pandya as an allrounder to help out with the bowling. When he bowls he isn’t as effective as he should be. If he was a good batsman, if he was getting runs – 60s, 70s, not even regular hundreds – at the number at which he bats and then he bowls and gets two or three wickets, happy, hallelujah. Happy with that. But he is not getting the amount of runs that can then allow him to get a wicket or two in the Test match. That doesn’t work,”

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