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India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya will not participate in the upcoming season of the Ranji Trophy after the Baroda Cricket Association announced their team for the group stages. Pandya, who will represent the Ahmedabad franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), was not included in the squad which will be led by Kedar Devdhar. This will come as a major blow for Baroda as they will miss the experience of the all-rounder. The former Mumbai Indians (MI) player has been struggling with injuries and fitness for some time.
“He (Hardik) verbally has communicated but nothing in writing,” a source told Sports Tak after Pandya opted to skip the red-ball tournament.
Baroda announced their 20-man squad for the Ranji Trophy, which returns on 10 February, after the red-ball tournament was canceled for the 2020-21 season due to Covid-19. It's been more than two decades since five-time champions Baroda last won the Ranji Trophy. The last time they reached the finals of the historic competition was in 2011. Pandya made his debut in 2013, rising to fame with Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
It's been more than three years since Pandya last played in the longest format. His last First-Class match was against Mumbai in December 2018, while his last Test match was against England in Southampton in September 2018. Persistently struggling with injuries and fitness, the 28-year-old has quickly gone off the radar as he only played in the limited-overs format.
The all-rounder was last seen in action in the T20 World Cup in 2021 against Namibia and faced criticism in the Pakistan match for not taking the field after injuring his shoulder while batting. The versatile player is a match-winner to have in the squad but fitness issues and lack of consistency has seen a drop in his performance graph in the last couple of years. This was one of the reasons why MI opted to not retain him ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auctions. Pandya though won't be too much disappointed as he will lead the new franchise from Ahmedabad in IPL 2022.
