The Indian fans and the Indian cricket team have been given a massive scare which could put all their World Cup 2023 plans in jeopardy as Hardik Pandya walked off the field with what seems to be an ankle injury during the game against Bangladesh.
India and Bangladesh met on Thursday for their group-stage encounter at the MCA Stadium in Pune where Hardik Pandya sustained an ankle injury and had to leave the field.
Pandya came on to bowl in the 9th over of Bangladesh’s innings and was cracked for two consecutive fours by Litton Das. The second of the fours was a straight drive from Litton that Hardik tried to stop with his right foot in his followthrough; neither he could stop the ball and he slipped in the process. It seemed like Hardik overstretched in order to stop the ball and this doesn’t look good.
He hobbled and then went down on the ground as the physio came running in. After being treated for a while, Hardik Pandya stood up and tried to see if he could bowl but the pain was too much for him to bear and risk aggravating the injury, so he left the field. Virat Kohli then bowled the remaining three balls of the over; this was the first time Kohli has bowled in ODI cricket since 2017.
The fans and the management are now hoping that Hardik Pandya’s injury is not a major one as he’s a key part of the team – an irreplaceable player not just in the squad, but his pace-bowling all-round abilities are not be found in the country at the moment.
Indian fans expressed their concern over Hardik Pandya getting ankle injury vs BAN on Twitter:
Bangladesh’s interim skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto had won the toss and elected to field first in Pune against India.
Teams:
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mahmudullah, Nasum Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
