'I respect Shastri's statement, but why?': Kapil Dev's fierce 'I don't believe that' reaction over Hardik Pandya debate

India returned to white-ball action earlier this week during the 1st ODI against West Indies, registering a comfortable five-wicket win Barbados. The match saw some of the Indian white-ball regulars including ODI vice-captain Hardik Pandya returning to the side; Hardik will be seen more regularly from now on as India wait till December for their next Test assignment, with the remainder of the cricketing calendar packed with big white-ball tournaments including the Asia Cup in August-September, and the ODI World Cup a month later.

Hardik had been a part of the Indian Test team during his early days for the side, but gradually confined himself to white-ball formats with his last Test appearance coming in 2018. A series of injuries including a back injury in 2021 forced Hardik to focus on ODIs and T20Is; the all-rounder had himself stated that he is not available for selection in Tests. Earlier this year, Hardik was named the T20I captain in absence of Rohit Sharma – a role that he continues to carry with Rohit not making a single appearance in the shortest format in 2023.

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Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who worked closely with Hardik during the former's stint, had stated last month that the all-rounder's body “cannot cope” with Test cricket. "Let's be clear. His body (Hardik) cannot cope with Test cricket. After the World Cup, I feel he should take over captaincy in white-ball cricket. Rohit should lead India in the World Cup, no question there," he had said.

Shastri's statement came after Hardik's recent inclination towards batting; the player hadn't bowled regularly in the IPL this year and seems to prefer batting more. However, Kapil Dev – one of India's legendary former captains – disagrees with Shastri. Kapil insisted that Hardik is more than capable of regaining the fitness prior to his injury and gave an example of Australia's former all-rounder Dennis Lillee.

“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?" Kapil said during an interview with The Week.

“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 further added.

Earlier this year, Hardik had succeeded KL Rahul as vice-captain in the ODIs, and the all-rounder is widely touted to succeed Rohit Sharma as India's next white-ball skipper.