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India's fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya faced a major setback when he got injured in ODI World Cup 2023 league stage match against Bangladesh. The injury ruled him out for months of cricketing action. He returned to competitive cricket with the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as Mumbai Indians (MI) but faced a horrible time as he was booed wherever he went and it took a toll on his performance as well. But Hardik was named vice-captain for T20 World Cup 2024 and played a major role in ending the ICC trophy drought that lasted 11 years. As Rohit Sharma retired from T20I captain, Pandya was expected to be next in line but Suryakumar Yadav has emerged as top contender. Amidst reports of Suryakumar taking over as captain, Pandya posted a message on Instagram recounting his fitness journey.
“Was a difficult journey after the freak 2023 WC injury but well worth the effort with the T20 WC win. The results come as long as you put in the effort. Hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. Let’s all try our best and work on our fitness,” the 30-year-old wrote in a post with a before and after photo.
There were rumours that Pandya’s fitness is an issue ahead of the Sri Lanka tour. Also, newly-appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir has talked to Pandya ahead of announcement of new T20I captain who will lead India in the next edition of T20 World Cup in 2026 which will be co-hosted by India.
Meanwhile, Pandya has pulled out of the three-ODI series against Sri Lanka next month citing personal reasons.
Pandya’s captaincy record
Pandya led India after T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal exit. He has 10 wins from 16 games as T20I captain with one ending in a tie. He also led Gujarat Titans (GT) to IPL trophy in his debut season as captain. In the following season, he led them to final where they lost to MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK). But he did not have much luck as MI's captain as they finished at the bottom of the points table with 10 losses from 14 games.
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