Hardik Pandya's return to 22 yards has been delayed further. The star all-rounder will not be able to play in the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. The three-match series will be held on November 30, December 3 and December 6 in Ranchi, Raipur and Visakhapatnam, respectively.
The Times of India reported Hardik Pandya was supposed to play the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Baroda team. He was supposed to join in the first or second round of this tournament. However, there has been a last-minute change in plans. Instead of reaching Hyderabad at the beginning of next week, the 32-year-old cricketer will now join his state team's match on November 30 or December 2.
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With this arrangement, he will be able to play at least three competitive matches, after which he will join the national team for the five-match T20 series against South Africa starting from December 9.
Notably, the ODI series against the Proteas begins on November 30. If Pandya had played in that series, he would have had at most one or two competitive matches at his disposal. It has been learned that the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) was not comfortable bringing him back to the ODI team so quickly, as he had been out of cricket for nearly two months. Everyone agreed to prioritise his return to the T20 format, keeping in mind the T20 World Cup to be held in February-March next year.
“Not just Hardik Pandya, the NCA (now CoE) has always given players with a history of long injuries the opportunity to return to the team gradually. When the break is long and the schedule permits, T20 matches are seen as an ideal platform to understand the body's condition and gradually increase the workload. If Hardik had played the ODI series against South Africa, he would have had to play a T20 and an ODI match within a few days. This is not ideal after a long break,” a BCCI source noted.
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Hardik Pandya has been in Bengaluru for the past few weeks, where he was recovering from a quadriceps injury. Due to this injury, he could not play in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan in September.
He also missed the entire white-ball series against Australia. He is not staying for the ODI series against South Africa either, but is ready to take the field in the T20 series against the Proteas next month.
