Kapil Dev wants Hardik Pandya to improve his batting

Former India captain Kapil Dev wants Hardik Pandya to "work harder on his batting" as that is his primary skill as an all-rounder.

Pandya, after his 93 in the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town, failed to get a single half-century across formats in the remaining matches.

Comparing any talented all-rounder to Kapil is a norm in Indian cricket and the World Cup winning captain wants Pandya to play without pressure.

He (Pandya) has shown the glimpse. He has the talent and the ability. Comparing with anyone put more pressure on him. I would like to see him go and express himself, enjoy himself, Kapil said in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Laureus World Sports Award.

For Kapil, any all-rounder should be strong in one of the two skill sets and for him Pandya is primarily a batting all-rounder.

"I would like to see him in the team for one reason, definitely either as a bowler or as batsman. He has to work little harder on his batting because he is a batsman all-rounder. If he can perform a little more with the bat, the bowling will come easy to him and that s what happens to all-rounders," said India's greatest ever all-rounder.

Kapil said that Pandya is still very young and everyone is expecting too much from him.

We have started expecting too much from him soon but I think he has the ability and is one of the finest athletes in the team. But he has to work harder to achieve success as an all-rounder, the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian skipper said.