Ravindra Jadeja is without a doubt India’s current best all-rounder, suited to all formats across conditions, leaving another star all-rounder Hardik Pandya miles behind.
While Ravindra Jadeja started as a bowling all-rounder and Hardik Pandya, as a batting all-rounder, the former has elevated his weaker aspect to a different level while the latter is struggling to complete his full quota of overs even in T20 cricket.
Here, we look at the reasons why Hardik Pandya will never match Ravindra Jadeja’s class
Fitness
When Ravindra Jadeja is usurping to greater heights, Hardik Pandya is struggling to be fit; Hardik hasn’t played a single game since the T20 World Cup, in the meantime, Jadeja has now become the number one Test all-rounder.
Hardik Pandya has had back injury issues that kept him from bowling full tilt even in T20 cricket. Jadeja, on the other hand, remains fit as ever and contributes heavily in all three departments.
Batting prowess
Since the start of 2019, Jadeja has played 60 matches for India across formats, wherein he averages a 48 in Tests, 42 in ODIs, and a staggering 70 in T20Is; even away from home, he averages over 40 in this period.
That he was been regularly promoted up in the batting order in recent times shows that the management has observed the surge in his batting as someone who not only can score quick runs but also provide a needed assurance in the middle. Hardik, on the other hand, remains highly volatile with the bat and has rarely built the innings.
Faith from the management
It’s a tribute to Jadeja’s increased stature that he played all the four Tests in England last year while keeping Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s premier off-spinner, on the bench and has now become one of the first names on the team sheet, both home and away. The management showed their faith in Jadeja the batsman and the left-hander duly repaid it too with crucial knocks. There is no replacement for Jadeja, even as Axar Patel remains his closest understudy.
For Pandya, though, Team India soon found his replacement in Venkatesh Iyer who was given his India debut after a stunning half-an-IPL season for KKR. That Venkatesh played the role of a finisher when he opened for KKR, indicated the management’s tilt towards the all-rounder as a long-term option.
Test career
Hardik Pandya played the last of his 11 Test matches in 2018 on the England tour, and the last of his 29 first-class games later that year. He has been away from the long format for four years: his body, especially his back, couldn’t hold up to the wear and tear of multi-day games, and hence he’s shifted his focus solely to white-ball cricket.
Jadeja is now the world’s top-ranked ICC all-rounder with 58 Tests under his belt and is spoken to behind only the great Kapil Dev in all-rounder category. Jadeja and Pandya’s contrasting Test careers hitherto highlights the chasm in their legacy in Indian cricket.
