Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is recovering from a back injury, was included in the India A squad on Monday for a three-match ODI series against New Zealand A, that kickstarts in January 2020. Hardik, who underwent surgery in October, has been away from cricket since September due to a back injury. The Baroda man was sidelined from action in Bangladesh and West Indies series.
Hardik, 26, has been troubled by injury since the Asia Cup in 2018. He then complained of pain in back in the game against Pakistan and was sidelined for whole of the tournament. Now Hardik will be looking to prove his fitness to be included in India’s squad for New Zealand ODI, T20 and test series.
Hardik announced his arrival to cricket field in a video posted from his official twitter account. He captioned- “Coming soon, near you”
Coming soon, near you ????? pic.twitter.com/4eQjPU1Ma3
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) December 19, 2019
India A squad for 2 tour matches and 3 one-day games: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal,Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill (Capt), Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson,Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya,Krunal Pandya,Axar Patel, Rahul Chahar, Sandeep Warrier, Ishan Porel,Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj
India’s struggle with injuries
India has been struggling with injuries off late that has not helped the team’s cause. Bhuvneshwar Kumar recently made his comeback to the Indian T20 squad for the West Indies series but he complained of pain after India registered a convincing 67 run victory against Windies in the 3rd t20 to win the series 2-1. Bhuvi has been struggling from injury in the past 16-20 months and his current situation will certainly not help his cause.
The Uttar Pradesh bowler last played a test match at 2018 South Africa tour where he was named the player of the series. He was out of action after the West Indies tour which started post the 2019 World Cup and made his comeback in the recently concluded T20 series against West Indies.
It took close to four months for Bhuvi to make a national comeback after injury and it looks that he has to further wait for four more months to be back on the cricket field. He will now undergo a surgery for Sports hernia and will take a minimum of two months to recover.
JasA fit and stronger Jasprit Bumrah will also make his comeback to the Indian ODI squad that plays against Sri Lanka next month.
