'He is not bowling so can we call him all-rounder?' - Kapil Dev opines on Team India star Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya hasn't had the best of times recently in international cricket. While he bowled some overs in the Sri Lanka tour, in mid-2021, he had a nightmarish tour with the bat. Further, he failed to get going in IPL 2021 but was expected to turn the tides in the T20 World Cup 2021 edition, in the UAE.

Nonetheless, Hardik couldn't do much with the bat in India's opening two games -- versus Pakistan and New Zealand respectively -- whereas bowled only a handful of overs to return wicketless in the showpiece event. Barring his cameo versus Afghanistan, Hardik had an ordinary T20 WC campaign. With him not bowling his full quota of overs, Hardik is playing mainly as a specialist batsman -- for his hitting prowess -- in ODIs and T20Is whereas hehas fallen down in the pecking order in Tests.

Thus, times are tough for the 27-year-old Indian star. Recently, India's 1983 World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Devhasstated that Hardik can't be termed an all-rounder till he doesn't start bowling regularly.

"He has to do both the jobs to be considered an all-rounder. He is not bowling so can we call him all-rounder? Let him bowl, he has come out from the injury," Kapil said at the Royal Calcutta Golf Course, as per PTI.

"He is an extremely important batter to the country, for bowling he has to play a lot more matches, perform and bowl and then we will say," he added.

With no Hardik in the India-NZ T20I series, Rohit Sharma & Co. opted for Venkatesh Iyer in the line-up. If the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) opener improves as a bowler in upcoming times, Hardik will find it tough to find a place even as a specialist batsman in the shorter formats.

Thus, it will be interesting to see by when Hardik returns to bowling his full quota of overs as he still remains one of the most important players for India across formats.