Former India cricketer Karsan Ghavri on Friday shared his thoughts on Virat Kohli's poor form, saying the former skipper is a great player, "but he can't play for long just riding on his name".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Virat Kohli is such a great player for India but unfortunately for the last two years we have seen him getting caught behind or caught in the slips while chasing the delivery outside the off-stump".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"He has to look at this and improve. He has to restrict those shots because if he keeps going like this and getting out and not getting runs, there comes a question mark -- 'why is he not scoring'?" Ghavri, who was a part of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup teams, told Jagran TV.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"He has to prove his form in the current series. These days you can't play for long riding on your name. Virat is a great player but only his name will not work. He has to perform and score runs. This is how it goes. Everybody understands that he is going through a rough patch and it happens with every player," he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Further praising Hardik Pandya, who has been widely compared to former India skipper Kapil Dev, Ghavri said, "there are no doubts in Pandya's cricketing abilities".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
However, he feels that the 28-year-old all-rounder has a long way to go before he can be compared to Kapil.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pandya on Thursday displayed his potential as a match-winner during the first T20I between India and England at the Rose Bowl Cricket Stadium in Southampton where the Men In Blue defeated the English side by 50 runs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
India's victory was backed by the likes of Hardik Pandya who scored a quickfire fifty, propelling the visitors to 198 for eight. The swashbuckling all-rounder then destroyed England's batting and finished with excellent figures of 4\/33 in his full quota of four overs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"There's no doubt about Hardik Pandya being a fine cricketer and after a long time, India has found a good all-rounder in him. He bowls beautifully, bats well and scores runs at the right time. Plus, he is a very safe fielder just like the State Bank of India", Ghavri said, adding, "I feel we definitely need such an all-rounder".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"People do compare him with Kapil Dev but I think he has a long way to go before he can be compared with Kapil Dev", Ghavri said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Kapil Dev was a different breed altogether and his records and stats speak volumes for him. So, it is not fair to compare Hardik with Kapil Dev yet", Ghavri further asserted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
On Jadeja being named as vice-captain of India for the upcoming limited-overs tour of West Indies, Ghavri said although Jadeja is a fantastic player, he is not captain material.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When India's squad for the West Indies tour was announced, I saw that Shikhar Dhawan was named as the captain. I feel this was a good move. But they have named Ravindra Jadeja as the vice-captain. Haven't the selectors seen what happened to Jadeja in the IPL?", he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n