Shoaib Akhtar and Hafeez believe Abdul Razzaq is a better hitter than Hardik Pandya in Pakistan

Former Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Hafeez admire Hardik Pandya's performance on the field, noting that he exceeds expectations every time he plays. Akhtar, known as the "Rawalpindi Express," acknowledged that Pandya may not be on the same level as legendary fast bowlers like Brett Lee, Waqar Younis, or Javagal Srinath, but he excels in his own right due to the confidence he has been given.

"Hardik Pandya koi Malcolm Marshall ya Waqar Younis nahi hai. Javagal Srinath ya Brett Lee nahi hai. (Hardik is no Marshall, Waqar, Lee or Srinath). It's just his mindset. You throw him the new ball, he does it. You ask him in to bowl in the middle, he does it. However, he is not that powerful hitter also. He had given that belief that the world is your stage. The market allows you to become big," Akhtar said on 'Game on Hai.'

The former Pakistan speedster said Hardik's hitting was a norm in the team that he played in the early 2000s when the likes of Abdul Razzaq used to play. "Aisi hitting, ye hamari team mein aam thhi. (This type of hitting used to be a norm in the Pakistan team)He's really good, but this was the norm in Pakistan's team.

‘Abdul Razzaq better than Hardik Pandya’

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez agreed with Akhtar and added that Razzaq was better than Hardik.

"I would agree with him. You take out the details of Abdul Razzaq's performances. He was a better and bigger performer. But the system didn't look after him and the player also didn't respond that much. He was limited in his skills, didn't try to outdo his own potential. Whatever I've seen of Razzaq, he was better than this version of Hardiik," Hafeez said.

Akhtar reminded everyone of Razzaq's unbeaten 109 off 7 balls against South Africa in Dubai in 2010 where the all-rounder single-handedly won the match for Pakistan

"He was asked to open, played in the middle order and sometimes even lower order. He has done everything but he didn't get the respect until he won a match against South Africa single-handedly. I was at the other end. I defended a full toss and he said 'don't lift your bat'. I said I won't. He was hitting the ball so hard that day that I thought if the ball came towards me, it would go through me. But we didn't give him the respect, and neither did we give Azhar Mahmood the respect that he deserved. He was a great performer with the ball," Akhtar said.

'That was the best match that I have seen. We had lost that game mentally and physically but Razzaq won it alone," Hafeez added.

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