What had been feared by the Indian team management and fans has come true: Hardik Pandya has been ruled out from the remainder of the Cricket World Cup 2023.
Hardik Pandya picked up an ankle injury, which was later revealed to be a ligament injury, during the game against Bangladesh. He missed the matches against New Zealand, England, and Sri Lanka.
While earlier it was learned that he would return for the semi-final, now he’s been completely ruled out from the competition. Hardik Pandya continued to undergo rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.
Who is the replacement of Hardik Pandya in World Cup squad?
Tall fast bowler Prasidh Krishna has been roped in as the replacement for Hardik Pandya in India’s World Cup 2023 squad.
The decision to allow India to bring in Krishan for Pandya was approved by the ICC Technical Committee after the all-rounder was ruled out.
Prasidh Krishna made his ODI debut in 2021 and his short career has also been affected by injuries, including a major back injury from which he returned only a couple of months ago.
Krishna has featured in 17 ODIs, in which he’s taken 29 wickets at an average of 25 with a best of 4/12. He has an experience of 51 IPL matches.
The management and selectors opted for Prasidh Krishan as Hardik Pandya’s replacement over Axar Patel given the squad already has three spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, and Kuldeep Yadav, and also considering the fact that the semi-finals and final will be played in Wankhede, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad – none of the three venues are favorable for spinners.
On the other hand, Krishna is a hit-the-deck fast bowler who can pound hard into the pitch and can be an enforcer in the middle overs if he gets a chance to play.
Barring any injury, India are unlikely to tinker with the combination that won them the last three games, even if it meant sacrificing the so called “batting depth” that Shardul Thakur offered because Mohammed Shami has been in scintillating form with 14 wickets in just 3 games. Siraj, too, got back among wickets in the previous game against Sri Lanka.
However, Prasidh Krishna might get a chance against the Netherlands as India have already qualified for the semi-final.
