「なぜ私たちは考えているのか…」 – イライラしたロヒト・シャルマはハーディク・パンディアの相談についてメディアに戻ります

There is no doubt that Hardik Pandya is the most valuable player in this Indian limited-overs line-up, where he offers plenty with the bat and the ball. In 86 ODIs, he has scored 1769 runs at an average of 34, and has simultaneously picked up 84 wickets as well. But then he is quite injury-prone, as was evident during the World Cup 2023, where he picked up an injury during the Bangladesh match, and never recovered for the rest of the tournament.

Rohit Sharma Opens up on Hardik Pandya Query

During the IND vs ENG 1st ODI pre-match conference, if India has any plan in place if an important member like Hardik Pandya got injured, even usually calm Rohit Sharma, hit back at the reporters. “Why are we thinking about the negatives? That he will get injured, this will happen, that will happen. In the minds of the selectors, there are things in our minds. I can’t say that here. But there are things. We played the World Cup when he got injured,” Rohit said.

“He got injured in the 3rd or 4th match. After that, we played the whole tournament. Although we lost the final, but we played good cricket till the final. So now, I won’t think about what will happen if he gets injured. What will happen if this happens, what will happen if that happens. I think, you are playing good cricket now. So we will hope that you keep playing good cricket and nothing happens,” he added.

IND vs ENG, 1st ODI

Having said that, Hardik Pandya’s fitness could be tested in the ODI series, since that was the last 50-over match that he played for India. It will be interesting to see, if he can bowl 10 overs, as needed by the team. Although he gets in the Indian team as a pure batter as well, but it is his solid bowling, that makes all the difference in the world. He just has an economy of 5.55, and a strike-rate of 38.