It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that even though Hardik Pandya has just been playing international cricket for the past six years, his present form is the best the world has ever seen. Pandya has performed flawlessly ever since his return to top-tier cricket in the IPL 2022. Pandya has accomplished everything: he led Gujarat Titans to their first IPL title in their inaugural season; he made an astonishing comeback to the Indian squad; he has played numerous memorable innings and bowled spells that have won matches. And with Pandya on fire, India will have the balance they need going into the T20 World Cup with their starting XI.

Even the legendary Sunil Gavaskar couldn't stop praising Pandya due to his impact on the game. In fact, Gavaskar predicted Pandya will be India's match-winning player at the World Cup and compared him to former India coach Ravi Shastri in a recent interview with Sports Tak. Gavaskar has given Pandya his support to repeat Shastri's heroics from the 1985 World Cricket Championship, when the former India all-rounder scored 182 runs in five matches, including three fifties, and took eight wickets.

"Yes, I think he could possibly do what Ravi Shastri did in 1985 where Ravi was the outstanding performer with both bat and ball in the entire tournament. Some good catches as well. Hardik Pandya is capable of doing that," Gavaskar said in an interaction with India Today. 

Shastri repeated his earlier assessment of Pandya, when he labelled him the "best T20 all-rounder in the world," in response to Gavaskar's praise for Pandya. Shastri reaffirmed his position on Pandya and said that while everyone is free to express their opinions, he has nothing to "add or subtract" from what he already said.

"I have already tweeted and posted on Instagram that he is the No. 1 all-rounder in this format of the game. What else do you need? I had said it two weeks back. What else is there to add or subtract? XYZ can say whatever they want… everyone is entitled to his opinion. My view is clear, which is what I tweeted a couple of weeks ago," Shastri told Sports Tak.

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