Hardik Pandya’s fitness has become one of the biggest concerns ahead of India’s campaign in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Hardik Pandya hasn’t bowled a single delivery in recent times and he also played as a specialist batsman while playing for Mumbai Indians in the just concluded 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Infact, during India’s warm-up matches against England and Australia, fans were waiting for his return however, to everyone’s dismay Hardik Pandya didn’t bowl a single delivery.
Meanwhile, during the toss last night in the war,-up match between India and Australia, Rohit Sharma, India’s stand-in captain for the clash against Australia, gave a major update about Hardik Pandya. Rohit Sharma revealed that he won’t be able to bowl for some more time. He also admitted that the Indian side is looking forward to including a sixth bowling option for the mega event. He said:
“We want to make sure that we get the 6th bowling option, some options in the batting order as well, we’ll try all those things today. Hardik is coming along pretty well, but it’ll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn’t started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament. We have quality in the main bowlers, but you need an option for a 6th bowler,”
Hardik Pandya, whose multi-dimensional skills used to bring balance to the team, has been playing as a specialist batsman. His lack of clarity for the bowling role might make India bring Shardul Thakur into the main squad for the T20 World Cup 2021.
India’s squad for the tournament: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.
Standby players – Shreyas Iyer, Akshar Patel, Deepak Chahar
