Hardik Pandya’s much-awaited return to international cricket has been delayed as the all-rounder has pulled out of India A tour of New Zealand. Contrary to the reports, Pandya hasn’t failed any fitness test and it’s his trainer who has advised to stay out of the tour as he is not fully fit to bowl. He has been replaced by Vijay Shankar.
“He is 100% fit. There is no doubt about that. But I don’t want him to take the workload of back-to-back international matches. No fitness test has been conducted for Pandya yet, so there’s no question of him failing any test,” Rajnikanth, Pandya’s trainer, told TOI.
“But that’s not because he’s not fit or has failed any test. He’s fit, he can score a 20 in yoyo right now. He’s doing his 20 meters too, effortlessly. Why I pulled him out is because of his bowling. That is still work in progress – the bowling workload at the international level,” he added.
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Like few other cricketers, Pandya had decided against going to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and trained on his own. It remains to be seen if he is selected in the national squad – to be announced today – for the New Zealand tour.
India play the first T20I against New Zealand on 24 and Pandya is now unlikely to make a comeback in the national squad. His absence will mean that Shivam Dube will keep his spot.
Talking of Shankar, he missed out on selection primarily because he wasn’t fit during that time. He recently made a comeback in Ranji Trophy and was slated to play against Mumbai on Saturday but was pulled out at the last moment. Shankar now has an opportunity to do well and earn a recall into the national team.
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A surprise pick for World Cup 2019, Shankar played three matches in the tournament before being ruled out due to a toe injury. He hasn’t been selected in the national squad since World Cup but with India needing pace-bowling all-rounders in Pandya’s absence, Shankar does have a strong chance to make a comeback.
India A play two practice matches and three one-day matches in the first leg of the tour. Later, India A will face New Zealand A in two unofficial Test matches.