‘I’ve been fit since January but…’: Hardik Pandya reveals why he didn’t return to the Indian team after recovering from an injury at the World Cup | Cricket | Top Vip News

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has declared himself fit to bowl during the impending 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, meaning he will join the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee in the bowling department. pace after the five-time champions suffered a blow with Dilshan Madhushanka injured and missing the first half of the season, while Jason Behrendorff was ruled out of the tournament. Hardik revealed that he has been fit since January, having recovered from the “strange injury” he suffered during the 2023 ODI World Cup, before explaining why he had not returned to action for Team India after rehabilitation. .

Speaking to reporters on Monday ahead of the start of the IPL 2024 season for Mumbai Indians, Hardik said his ankle injury, sustained during India’s fourth league match at the World Cup, had nothing to do with it. do with their past injuries or physical condition before disclosing. that he got in shape in January. The all-rounder, however, did not join the Indian team because the team was already in the midst of its home T20I series against Afghanistan, and with Hardik not in contention to return to Test action, there were no other international matches to come. he could participate.

“Yes, I will bowl. My injury in (the) World Cup was a strange injury. It had nothing to do with my past injuries, it had nothing to do with my fitness. When I got fit, Afghanistan (T20I) The series had just started (in January). Since then I am fit, but there were no matches to play,” he said.

Pandya will play senior cricket for the first time since that match against Bangladesh in October last year when he takes the field as the new captain of the Mumbai Indians on Sunday against his former team, the Gujarat Titans. The all-rounder had unsuccessfully tried to stop Litton Das’ shot on the third ball of the ninth over and ended up twisting his ankle. While at first it looked like the physio had fixed it and he was ready to bowl the next ball, Pandya was unable to do so and that led to Virat Kohli taking the ball in his hands and bowling the rest of the ball. the end.

“When it happened I had no idea how serious it was,” Pandya said at a news conference about the injury. “When I went for scans, at first it just showed that it was just a nuisance. But as a couple of hours went by, it showed the real picture when my ankle swelled. Immediately, the next day, I went to NCA to make sure I had to speed up my process to come back. We tried every day to make sure I was available for the World Cup. Then we had to take a call on the 12th and the question was do I want to represent India at 50 per cent, the answer was no. India deserves better than that, I myself will not be able to justify my return.

“From there my rehabilitation journey began. The goal was to make sure I returned as soon as possible. But with injuries as rare as these, you have to give it time. It doesn’t go away with something like physical therapy, the body needs to recover naturally,” she stated.