(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is the talk of the town. Pandya recently came back to Mumbai Indians (MI) after leaving Gujarat Titans (GT) with his original franchise choosing him as their captain for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 after sacking Rohit Sharma.
Amidst this power tussle, Pandya stands injured. He hurt his ankle while stopping the boundary on the followthrough off his own bowling in the World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh. He is yet to mark his comeback to the field since then.
While it was expected that Pandya would return the upcoming three-match T20I series, scheduled versus Afghanistan in January, a PTI report has lessened the possibility of it happening.
As per the PTI, no update is available on the status quo of Pandya’s fitness and it is likely that he could even miss the upcoming IPL season.
“There is no update on Hardik’s fitness status as of now and one can say there remains a big question mark of him being available before the end of IPL,” a BCCI source said as quoted to PTI.
Pandya’s likely unavailability raises the captaincy concern for both India and MI. In case Rohit too misses the Afghanistan T20Is, India would have to look at an alternative. Also, it is India’s last T20I assignment before the next year’s World Cup.
Mumbai Indians too have removed Rohit from captaincy and if Pandya fails to recover from the injury before the start of the IPL 2024, the side would have explore another option.