Five Injured Indian Players And Their Expected Comeback Dates
Feb 28, 2020 at 4:48 PM
Injuries of players often affect the game as it mounts pressure on the teams if a perfect replacement could not be found within a proper time. Currently, the Indian team is undergoing the same situation as they lost the ODI series (3-0), and are now struggling in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand.
After completing the New Zealand tour, the team will head home, to play the ODI series against South Africa.
The next assignment for Indian players will be the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL), which will be an almost two-month-long tournament. And, then India is lined up with two mega tournaments – Asia cup 2020 and the ICC T20 World Cup 2020.
So, India has a busy cricket schedule and keeping in mind the mega event, the team will hope that its major player recovers in time.
Let’s have a look at the list of star Indian injured players and their expected return.
List of injured Indian players and their probable comeback dates:
Rohit Sharma:
India’s limited over captain and opener Rohit Sharma surfaced with a calf injury during the T20I series against New Zealand. In the last game, while running between the wickets, he pulled off a calf injury which led his ouster from the whole tour. He went on to miss the ODI series where India was whitewashed and he also missed the Two-match Test series.
Being a game-setter for the team, his absence has costed the team owing to the recent tour. So, the team will be hoping for his return soon. If reports are to believed, he has made himself unavailable against South Africa’s ODI series.
Besides, he will be seen in action wearing the Mumbai Indians (MI) jersey in the IPL which will begin from 29th March.
The first game of defending champions is against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar:
India’s pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was managing his injury for a long time. Last year after the ICC World Cup 2019, he was in and out of the team. He almost spent a month in NCA, to recover before staging a return in the squad. But after playing the T20I series against the West Indies, his injury recurred and was again sent back to the NCA in Bengaluru.
And after scans, finally, it was found that the player was suffering from a sports hernia. He then went for a surgery and he is currently under rehabilitation programme in NCA. His ill-treatment had brought a lot of criticism against NCA led by Rahul Dravid.
Meanwhile, he isn’t expected to be back for South Africa ODIs and might only make a comeback in the IPL 2020.
Shikhar Dhawan:
2019-20 season has been an injury-prone year for Shikhar Dhawan. Surprisingly, he was injured thrice.
During the World Cup 2019, he fractured his thumb in the match against Australia and he was ruled out for the whole tournament. Secondly, he got while playing for his state team Delhi during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Thus, he was ruled out for the West Indies series at home.
And when everything was going right, he again picked up a shoulder injury while fielding against Australia at home. Although his injury came up as a golden opportunity for KL Rahul who rose as a versatile player.
Coming back to Dhawan’s return, he is expected to feature in the IPL 2020 and will be missing the South Africa series at home.
Hardik Pandya:
The first player to be ruled out of the team is the all-rounder, Hardik Pandya. After playing the series on the Caribbean shores and T20I series against South Africa at home, the Baroda player could not manage the pain at the lower back. Thus, decided to go under surgery in the UK.
Earlier in an interview, the all-rounder had said that he was managing his injury for a long time. Pandya got himself injured during the Asia Cup 2018 and since then, he has been carrying the pain.
He is currently recovering, well. Pandya also keeps updating about his routine in NCA through his social media handles. Although he might be fit in time for the South Africa series, Pandya is expected to be given an extended break and might only make a comeback in IPL 2020.
Deepak Chahar:
Deepak Chahar came into action after Bhuveneshwar Kumar was ruled out. However, he got injured himself, making a way for Navdeep Saini in the team.
The speedster surfaced with lower back stress fracture ahead of the final ODI against the West Indies.
Now, he will have to sweat hard, to gain his position back with the likes of Shardul Thakur and Saini.
He will be seen in action during IPL 2020, playing for the CSK on 29th March against four-time IPL champions, Mumbai Indians (MI).