‘Ben Stokes is a Real Match-Winner, Hardik Pandya is Not Even in Top 10’ – Irfan Pathan

Siddesh | August 4, 2020 | News | No Comments

'Ben Stokes is a Real Match-Winner, Hardik Pandya is Not Even in Top 10' - Irfan Pathan

In a recent Interview former Indian all-rounder, Irfan Pathan said about Ben Stokes and Hardik Pandya.

Recently in an interview former Indian allrounder, Irfan Pathan praised Ben stokes. Another top-class performance in the England-West Indies Test series by Ben Stokes showed why he is regarded as the best all-rounder in the world, across formats. He shined not only with the bat but also picked up wickets regularly in the series.

Earlier, after the match-winning performance of Ben Stokes, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan had lauded his effort. Also, he said that India would be unbeatable if they have a player like him. In this reply, fans reminded him about Hardik Pandya, who has done a considerably good performance in recent years.

Irfan Pathan told in an interview that Hardik has the ability but still has a long way to go to compete with Ben Stokes.

“Ben Stokes has become No. 1 all-rounder in the world by winning matches for England. I wish for Team India to have an all-rounder who wins games for India. Yuvraj Singh was the kind of guy who was a match-winner. Having an all-rounder in the team is a different thing and I am talking about purely in Test cricket,” Pathan speaks with Cricket.com in a video interaction.

“Unfortunately, Hardik Pandya is not in the top 10 in any format of the game for India. He has the potential, there is no doubt about it. If he has that caliber of an all-rounder who can win matches for India, the Indian cricket team will be invincible. The Indian cricket team is way better than the rest in the world,” he added.

“We have guys like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul. The Indian team has such immensely talented cricketers like Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ishant Sharma.

“Players like Ashwin, two wrist spinners and Ravindra Jadeja for that matter but if we have that one piece which can put everyone together- that’s an all-rounder. We have tried Vijay Shankar and some new would also come in the future. I am simply saying India needs a match-winning all-rounder,” said Pathan.

The selectors have shown confidence in uncapped spinner Kashif Bhatti. However, he is behind Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan in the spin bowling order. Left-arm spin all-rounder Fawad Alam is also in line who last played a Test match in 2009. Old Trafford will host the first Test before going on to the other two matches. The first T20I will be played on 28 August.