“I have never wanted to be Kapil Dev. Let me be Hardik Pandya. I am good at being Hardik Pandya,” said all-rounder Hardik Pandya after his maiden five-wicket haul in the third Test match against England, at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. The all-rounder spoke with flare after his sparkling performance helped India script a comeback in the game.

Speaking after his talismanic performance in the third match, Pandya played down all comparisons with the legendary Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev. Pandya said, “I have never wanted to be Kapil Dev. Let me be Hardik Pandya. I am good at being Hardik Pandya. I have played 41 ODIs, and now 10 Test matches being Hardik Pandya, not Kapil Dev.”

See What Hardik Pandya Had to Say to His Critics:

Former cricketers ridiculed the all-rounder after his consistent recent failures in the red-ball cricket. Former Indian spinner (Guess who?) went on to the extent of saying that we should remove the all-rounder tag from Hardik Pandya.

Pandya, who played a heroic role in India restricting England on 161 in their first innings, took his maiden five-for in Test cricket. He ended the innings with figures reading, 6-1-28-5, which included a double-wicket maiden over.

Will he be able to deliver consistent performances for India or did Pandya had a lucky at the office? India had scored 124/2 at stumps. At the end of day 2, the Indian team are leading by 292 runs, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli at the crease. Stay tuned with LatestLY for all the latest updates about India vs England Test Series 2018!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2018 02:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).