India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is likely to test his fitness in the DY Patil T20 tournament that starts soon. A report in Mumbai Mirror suggests that Pandya might be in action during the T20 tournament. He will be playing for Reliance.
Also Read: Fit Or Not? Ishant Sharma Set To Undergo Fitness Test This Week: Report
DY Patil T20 is one of the most famous tournaments. Almost every domestic player who is available comes and plays his company. in 2016, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina took part in the tournament while in 2017, Rishabh Pant was playing the same tournament when he was selected in the national squad.
Pandya will have chance to test this fitness in this competition. He has been out of action since September 2019 due to back issue. In October, he underwent back surgery and was hoping to get fit for New Zeland tour but that wasn’t the case.
Pandya though was named in India A’s one-day squad but he also missed the List A fixtures. He is currently training under Rahul Dravid and his team at NCA and is highly likely to be fit for three ODIs against South Africa. The 26-year-old is a key player in India’s lineup and Team India needs him for twin T20 World Cups. The team management has been managing his workload to him him fit and ready. After World Cup 2019, he was rested for the complete tour of West Indies and wasn’t named in the Test squad for South Africa series.
If fit, Pandya will replace Shivam Dube in the ODI squad. He hasn’t been able to capitalise on the opportunities in the shortest format and has only played one ODI so far.
Also Read: Indian Players Who Were Never Backed By Their Captains – See List
While Pandya is expected to return, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar will miss the South Africa ODIs as they continue to recover. Bhuvneshwar recently underwent a sports hernia surgery while Chahar is suffering from a back problem.
Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out of the remainder of New Zealand fixtures due to calf issue, is only expected to be back for IPL next. One of the busiest cricketers in 2019/20, Rohit was only rested for three T20Is against Bangladesh in past one year.