Allrounder Hardik Pandya is continuing to recover from an ankle injury he picked up during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Bangladesh in Pune earlier this month.
India captain Rohit Sharma is hopeful that Pandya will be back in action soon enough but ruled him out from tomorrow’s Sri Lanka clash at the Wankhede Stadium.
“No, see, his procedure after the injury is very positive. Whatever procedure he had to undergo after the injury, and the NCA, there were a lot of positive things. Right now, he is not available for tomorrow’s match,” Rohit told reporters on match eve in Mumbai.
“But it is an injury that we have to see every day how much percent he has improved, how much recovery has been made, how much bowling has been done, how much batting has been done. So, on a day-to-day basis, we would like to take a call,” he added.
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Pandya was hurt midway through his over at the MCA stadium and left the field taking no further part in the game as India went on to register a comfortable win.
CricketNext had reported the 30-year-old is expected to return around the semi-finals with India not risking him during the round-robin stage.
The value Pandya brings to the Indian side can be gauged from the fact that the team has needed two specialist players their playing XI as his replacement.
It is likely that he will be available for India’s final league fixture against the Netherlands on November 12.
Pandya seemed to have twisted his right ankle while trying to stop a ball on follow through. He’s been undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
India have played Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar Yadav since Pandya’s injury.
Shami picked up a five-wicket haul against New Zealand in what was his first match of the competition and followed that with a four-wicket haul against England in Lucknow.
On the other hand, Suryakumar was run out for 2 against New Zealand but played a superb innings of 49 runs on a challenging surface vs England to help India set up a target of 229 which proved beyond the defending champion’s reach.
India have been in superb form in the ongoing tournament having won all six of their matches so far and will be hoping to continue their run against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
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