Hardik Pandya's return delayed; set to miss ODI series vs South Africa

NEW DELHI: Hardik Pandya’s return to competitive cricket has been delayed, and as a result, the star all-rounder will miss the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. The three-match series will be played in Ranchi, Raipur and Visakhapatnam on November 30, December 3 and December 6, respectively.'

As TimesofIndia.com had reported earlier, Pandya was scheduled to join the Baroda side for the first or second round of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but there has been a late alteration to that plan.



Instead of reaching Hyderabad early next week, the 32-year-old will now join his state side for either on November 30 fixture or the subsequent match on December 2. The current arrangement will allow him to play at least three competitive games before joining the T20I side for the five-match series against South Africa, starting from December 9.

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The ODIs against the Proteas get underway on November 30 and if Pandya was going to feature in those, it would have given him only one or at maximum two competitive matches. It's understood that the BCCI CoE wasn't comfortable with the idea of rushing him back into the ODI set-up as he has been away from cricket for close to two months now. All stakeholders were aligned and prioritised his T20I commitments by keeping an eye on the T20 World Cup scheduled in February-March next year.

When the layoff is longer and scheduling permits, T20s are seen as the ideal fixture to test the body and then gradually increase the workload

"Not just with Hardik Pandya, the NCA (now CoE) has always allowed players with a long history of injuries to ease back into the set-up. When the layoff is longer and scheduling permits, T20s are seen as the ideal fixture to test the body and then gradually increase the workload. Had Hardik played the SA ODIS, it would have meant playing a T20 and ODI in the space of a few days. Something which isn't ideal after a long layoff," says a well-placed source.


Pandya has been in Bengaluru for the last few weeks recovering from the quadriceps injury which ruled him out of the Asia Cup final against arch-rivals Pakistan in September. The all-rounder went on to miss the entire white-ball leg in Australia, and will be missing the ODIs against South Africa, but is well placed to take field in the T20Is against the Proteas next month.


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