“Nobody has had more breakdowns than Dennis Lillee” - Kapil Dev counters claims that Hardik Pandya’s body can’t cope with Test cricket

Former India captain Kapil Dev disagrees with suggestions that all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s fragile body can’t cope with Test cricket and hence he must stick to white-ball formats. Giving the example of Australian fast bowling legend Dennis Lillee, Kapil opined that the human body has the capacity to make a comeback from any condition.

At one point in his career, Pandya was touted to be the next Kapil. However, his bowling has been hampered due to back issues. In fact, he hasn’t played Test cricket since September 2018. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri once said that Pandya’s body can’t cope with Test cricket.

In an interview with The Week magazine, Kapil disagreed with his former India teammate. Sharing his thoughts on Pandya’s fitness woes, the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper commented:

“I respect his [Shastri’s] statement, but why? Nobody has had more breakdowns than Dennis Lillee. So I don’t believe that. Human body can come back from any corner, come back into top condition. If you say Hardik Pandya - who is such a great athlete, looks so good - has to work hard on his body, he has to work hard. His body can’t take it?

“I can understand if that big West Indian off-spinner’s [Rahkeem Cornwall] body can’t take it. But, over a period of time, his body can also do it if he starts working towards it,” the 64-year-old added.

Pandya has featured in 11 Tests, 75 ODIs, and 87 T20Is, claiming 17, 73, and 69 wickets, respectively.

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“Why don’t we say, when do we get the next Dhoni?” - Kapil on India’s hunt for a genuine all-rounder

While discussing about India’s struggles to find a genuine all-format all-rounder, Kapil admitted that playing all three versions is not easy.

He opined:

“It’s too much hard work today. You have T20Is, you have ODIs, you have Tests, you have other cricket also and you have commercials [laughs]. I was avoiding saying the last one. In our time, there was only cricket. It’s not an easy job to be an all-rounder. It’s not an easy job to play all types of cricket. But some people can play.”

The former India captain reckoned that Irfan Pathan came close to being one before he completely disappeared from the international scene. Kapil said:

“I thought Irfan Pathan was very close to doing that, but he faded away very fast. Same with Hardik Pandya. I like to say that he can do those things; why are we trying to cover that up? He will have to work hard,” Kapil added.

He also questioned why the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni are not considered genuine all-rounders.

The Indian legend concluded:

“Also, we are not counting Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin as all-rounders. Dhoni averages over 50 with the bat in ODIs. What a keeper and what a captain. So why don’t we say, when do we get the next Dhoni?”

Dhoni played 350 ODIs, scoring over 10000 runs. He also took 321 catches and affected 123 stumpings.