CWC23: Hardik Pandya to miss entire league stage?

Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is reportedly not completely fit to be playing the remaining league stage, which will include matches against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Netherlands in that order.

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has suffered an ankle injury in the match against Bangladesh at Pune, has missed India’s World Cup matches against New Zealand in Dharamshala and England in Lucknow on Sunday.

The all-rounder, who brings a great balance to the team is reported to be unfit for the entirety of the league stage, which will include matches against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Netherlands in that order.

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If reports of Hardik’s absence turn out to be true, team India still would not be in a spot as Mohammed Shami and Surya Kumar Yadav, who were brought in after the all rounder’s injury, have performed exceptionally well in the matches that they have played.

Earlier, BCCI has stated in an official release after the Bangladesh game that Hardik would miss the next game (against New Zealand) and return for the game in Lucknow (against England). However, he failed to recover completely in time and is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru recovering.

Meanwhile, the management would not be in a rush to bring him back into the playing XI.

Once Hardik returns…

Hardik Pandya’s injury forced two changes in the side, with Shardul Thakur also having to make way for Mohammed Shami to strengthen the pace attack as Surya Kumar Yadav (SKY) was brought to fill in for the all-rounder in the batting department.

With both the replacements have paid off well, team India would not want to disturb the rhythm of the players once Hardik comes back into the team. With Surya coming off good and Shreyas Iyer showing little impact so far in the tournament, the choice between the two could be quite clear for the management.

SKY’s matured innings of 49 runs off 47 balls on a difficult batting track the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, will put considerable amount of pressure on Shreyas as they move forward in the tournament.