Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has begun practice after suffering an injury during the ODI World Cup 2023. While playing against Bangladesh, Pandya injured his ankle while trying to stop the ball.
He was ruled out of the whole tournament and also missed the series against Australia, South Africa, and Afghanistan. Pandya will now be seen in action in the Indian Premier League and will be leading the Mumbai Indians.
Hardik Pandya uploaded a video on his official ‘X’ handle, wherein he can be seen returning to practice after recovering from injury. However, Pandya was not seen bowling during his practice session and paid all his attention to batting.
Watch – Hardik Pandya returns to field after injury
Back at it 🤙 pic.twitter.com/5qC3l3iX8c
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) February 15, 2024
However, ahead of his return to the cricket field during the Indian Premier League, Hardik Pandya has garnered headlines due to his rumored rift with Indian captain Rohit Sharma. MI replaced Rohit as the captain of the franchise with Hardik, soon after the IPL 2024 auction.
Mumbai Indians brought back all-rounder Hardik Pandya in a transfer deal with the Gujarat Titans for a whopping price of INR 15 crore. MI was forced to leave Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who was later picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
While Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher while speaking in a podcast stated that replacing Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as the captain of the team was totally a cricketing decision. However, Rohit’s wife Ritika Sajdeh also made a cryptic reply on an Instagram post featuring Boucher’s comments which once again gave fire to the speculations of a rift between the Mumbai Indians management and Rohit Sharma.
Hardik Pandya is currently one of the top all-rounders of white ball cricket. The Baroda cricketer has been able to contribute with both bat and ball whenever the Indian team has needed him to do so. Also, Pandya was playing brilliantly during the 2023 ODI World Cup ahead of his unfortunate injury against Bangladesh.
Hardik Pandya has also done well as the captain of India’s T20I side. It was speculated that Pandya may lead the side in the T20 World Cup 2024, however, Rohit’s return to the format in January this year after 13 months has shut all the rumors.
Mumbai Indians have been crucial in developing Hardik Pandya as a player. In the IPL 2015 auction, MI selected Pandya for a base price of INR 10 lakh. Hardik contributed with the bat and the ball and turned out to be an invaluable acquisition for the team. He also got his maiden break for the Indian cricket team at the beginning of 2016 as a result of his IPL success.
After he was released by the five-time champions in 2021, he was picked by the Gujarat Titans. He was given the responsibility to captain the side and he didn’t disappoint the management as he assisted them in winning the IPL title in their first year of play. In 2023, the Titans managed to advance to the tournament championship game. Now that Hardik has returned to MI, the management has faith in him, and they think they can win the trophy once more.