Hardik Pandya gets huge certificate from former New Zealand star Scott Styris

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Hardik Pandya has been enduring a moderate time since the T20 World Cup victory. The Indian cricketer lost his vice-captain designation and had an underwhelming start to the T20 series against Sri Lanka.

Amid the woes, the India all-rounder has received a major boost from former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris, who has given him a huge certificate.

Pandya was discarded from the leadership race in T20 format. Although he was the favourite to take the role, it went to Suryakumar Yadav. BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar cited Hardik's fitness issue as the main reason behind choosing Suryakumar as captain as India needed a captain who would be a lot regular in the team.

Speaking on that, Styris says Hardik's ability and talent have no doubters, but he needs to show consistency. He also compared Hardik's skills on par with England star Ben Stokes.

"This champion all-rounder (Hardik Pandya) has got as many skills as anyone. He's probably in a similar ability zone as someone like Ben Stokes. He's got much more talent than that (recent performances)," Styris said to PTI in a video interview.

"He is a phenomenally skilled cricketer. But he hasn't quite shown it yet as consistently enough for my liking. So, just let him get out there and just say, you've got to lead us now by your performance," the former New Zealand player added.

Pandya will be looking forward to coming back strongly in the remaining two matches against Sri Lanka. The all-rounder won't take part in the ODI series for personal reasons.

The New Zealand star also gave a huge certificate to Axar Patel and said he's a huge fan of the Indian all-rounder.

"I'm a huge fan of Axar Patel. I picked him in my World Cup squad (of India) during the IPL. He's one of those players who always gets in the fight, always gets in the contest."