Hardik Pandya and Ben Stokes are two of the world’s leading all-rounders at the moment. They have won many crucial matches with their brilliant batting, bowling, and fielding for their teams – India and England – leading to comparisons between them among the fans and the cricket fraternity.
The Indian all-rounder has been in stunning form and recently played an unbeaten knock of 71 runs off 30 balls, though it came in a losing cause in the first T20I against Australia in Mohali. Pandya's comparison to Stokes was brought up again after another fantastic knock.
However, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif felt it was unfair to compare Pandya with Stokes, as the English all-rounder has delivered on big occasions like World Cups and Ashes, whereas the Indian all-rounder has performed only in bilateral matches, so the latter is a better all-rounder than Hardik.
Rashid Latif said on his official YouTube channel Caught Behind: “There's no doubt that he is a very good player but it's a bilateral series. You see such innings in bilateral series. The Asia Cup concluded recently and you have to count those performances too. I'm not talking about today's match, but Ben Stokes is proven. He won the World Cup and he won Test matches for England.”
He added, “So, I don't think you can even compare when it comes to (performances) on the ground. Because a trophy is a trophy. Ben Stokes is way ahead of Hardik in that. Having said that, yes, some of Hardik's innings have been better than Ben Stokes, but having better innings and being better than Stokes are two completely different things.”
Pandya will return to action in the second T20I of the series against Australia on September 23, which takes place in Nagpur.
