Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s injuries have become quite a concern for Team India management in recent times. The 29-year-old suffered an ankle injury during the Men’s in Blue 2023 World Cup fixture against Bangladesh, which ruled him out of remaining matches of the tournament.
Team India went on to play the semifinal and final against New Zealand and Australia without Hardik Pandya in the Playing XI. The Men in Blue lost the Final against Aussies by 6 wickets. It was natural for Pandya to be sad and disappointed to miss the biggest game of his career.
With the crucial T20 World Cup cycle in place - 2024 (West Indies and the USA) and 2026 (India), Hardik Pandya’s availability is important for Team India for major events. Keeping the larger picture in mind, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and National Cricket Academy wasted no time to get into huddle and were not in a hurry to rush Pandya back to action.
BCCI and NCA have rolled out a 18-week programme for Hardik Pandya, with a focus on complete rehabilitation rather than speedy recuperation. “We speak of workload management. This is precisely what it is all about. Is there a doubt on his ability as a T20 cricketer? No. What we rather need is setting long-term goals and ensuring endurance levels remain up to the mark,” as per sources quoted by News18.
Hardik Pandya is unlikely to play T20Is against Afghanistan
Hardik Pandya has not been included in white-ball series against Afghanistan as he is yet to completely recover from his ankle injury. Also, it is unlikely that the star all-rounder will be part of India squad for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in January next year as he will be following an 18-week high-performance programme exclusively curated for Pandya by BCCI and NCA till March.
Players like Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul had undergone similar programmes during their injury lay-offs. The NCA adopted personalized similar programmes for certain Indian cricketers to address long term goals.
