T20I Serie: Hardik Pandya ruled out of T20i series against Afghanistan, doubtful for IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya, India’s premier all-rounder, had suffered an ankle injury during the 2023 ODI World Cup, causing him to miss the T20i series against Australia as well as the current South Africa trip in December. According to a recent rumor, his chances of making a comeback for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in January are looking pretty unlikely.
Hardik’s unavailability is concerning for India, particularly in terms of the captaincy for the next home series against Afghanistan. The three forthcoming Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) against Afghanistan, scheduled from January 11 to 17, are significant since this series is the Men in Blue’s final T20i assignment before the T20 World Cup in June.
With Suryakumar Yadav also out with an ankle injury, the loss of two crucial players creates a leadership vacuum. In this case, the selectors confront a difficult problem in reevaluating their captaincy alternatives.
According to a PTI report, Hardik may require a long time to recover from his injury, which means the 30-year-old would almost certainly miss the Afghanistan T20i series and his participation in the IPL 2024 is also in doubt.
“There is no update regarding the fitness of Hardik for now and it is still unclear whether he will be available before the end of the IPL.,” an official of the BCCI told PTI.
Hardik was expected to be fit before the T20 series against Afghanistan but now that his recovery duration has been extended and with Suryakumar Yadav injured as well, Team India might have to ask Rohit Sharma to handle the leadership duties against Afghanistan but if Rohit decides to skip the series against Afghanistan, then problems are going to increase for BCCI.
Ravindra Jadeja who was the vice-captain in the T20i series against South Africa is a possible candidate to lead the team in the Afghanistan series and Shreyas Iyer can lead the team as well since he was the deputy of Suryakumar Yadav in the 5-match T20i series against Australia.
Mumbai Indians had selected Hardik as their skipper for the 17th season of the IPL (IPL 2024), ending Rohit Sharma’s decade-long reign as the skipper. Under the 36-year-old’s leadership, MI managed to lift the IPL trophy 5-times.
Hardik’s return to Mumbai from Gujarat Titans was completed in an all-cash trade deal at the end of last month. The Younger Pandya’s likely absence due to injury may force the franchise to reconsider their leadership tactics and probably ask Rohit Sharma to captain the Team from Mumbai for the upcoming season or else Suryakumar Yadav (Expected to return from his injury in February) might be seen leading MI in IPL 2024.
Full squad of Mumbai Indians after the 2024 IPL Auction: Hardik Pandya (C) and (Traded from GT), Dewald Brevis, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Tilak Varma, Arjun Tendulkar, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Kumar Kartikeya, Jasprit Bumrah, , Akash Madhwal, Piyush Chawla, Romario Shepherd (Traded from LSG), Jason Behrendorff, Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Namandhir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi and Shivalik Sharma.
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