Hardik Pandya to Skip Afghanistan T20Is, will be fit before IPL

Due to an ankle injury, star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is expected to miss the Twenty20 International series against Afghanistan but should be back before the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pandya was a member of the Indian team for the World Cup of Cricket. Before suffering an ankle injury during a league stage match against Bangladesh on October 19, he played four matches, taking five wickets with the best bowling figures of 2/34 and scoring 11* against Australia in his lone innings. This injury prevented him from participating in the tournament. Since then, Pandya has not participated in any international cricket matches. He was also unable to attend the three T20I and ODI series while on tour in South Africa, in addition to the five T20I matches against Australia.

In the absence of Pandya and regular captain Rohit Sharma, who asked for a break from white-ball cricket following the World Cup final against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav captained India in all Twenty20 International matches, while KL Rahul led the team in One-Day Internationals. Before the ICC T20 World Cup, which will be held in June in the West Indies and the United States, India’s last international assignment will be a three-match Twenty20 International series against Afghanistan, which runs from January 11–17.

Following a trade between the two teams, Pandya relocated from the Gujarat Titans (GT) to his previous team, the Mumbai Indians (MI), in November of this year. The all-round player led GT’s campaign with skill during his two unforgettable years there. Hardik made sure that GT had a dream start in 2022, as the team won the coveted trophy. However, in their second season, they came in second after losing in a thrilling last-ball final earlier in the year. As MI’s new captain, Pandya has big shoes to fill because Rohit has guided the team to five IPL championship victories. A few days after being traded to the team, he was named the new captain of MI, which made him well-known.

Pandya amassed 833 runs at an average of 37.86 and a strike rate of over 133 in 31 games for GT between 2022 and 2023. He also recorded six half-centuries and a career-high score of 87*. In addition, he finished with 11 wickets for the team, scoring the highest 3/17. In addition, Pandya participated in 92 MI games between 2015 and 2021, amassing 1,476 runs at an average of 27.33 and a strike rate exceeding 153, including four half-centuries and a career-high score of 91. Along with taking 42 wickets for the team, he had the best bowling stats (3/20). Pandya has five IPL trophies to his name; he won four of them with MI in 2015, 2017, 2020, and 2022.