Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt believes that Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya will keep picking up injuries because of his body, saying he needs some more muscle mass to shoulder the workload.

Pandya is considered as one of the best all-rounders in the world, but unfortunately, injuries have let him down at times, and ever since he returned to international cricket following back surgery in 2019, the cricketer has been unable to bowl regularly and eventually lost his place in the Indian Test side.

However, the veteran Pakistan batsman admitted that Hardik is a talented cricketer, but his body is too weak to bear the workload of an all-rounder at the moment, saying he needs to work extremely hard on building his physique to avoid frequent injuries.

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Butt said on his YouTube channel, “India had high hopes from Hardik Pandya, but he has been on a long layoff period. He looks very skillful when he bats. And when he was bowling before the injury, he looked very effective with a decent pace. But again, Hardik Pandya’s problem is that he is so slim, if there is extra load on his body, he will keep getting unfit.”

He added, “He needs some muscle on his body. Skill-wise, he has a lot of capacity to become better and better. The way he bats and bowls… he has a very good bowling action. But again, his body cannot take the excess workload. That is what needs to be managed.”

Citing the examples of the legendary all-rounders Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, Butt has stressed the importance of having a strong body structure to fulfill all-around duties for the national side.

He signed off by saying, “If you compare Hardik Pandya with Kapil Dev or Imran Khan, they were far fitter than him. You can watch their YouTube videos. They were double in size and had more muscle. I don’t know if there is any issue with Hardik Pandya’s physique. The physios and trainers must be definitely talking to him about it.”