Mumbai Indians (MI) ended their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on a winning note against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday in their last final league match. Despite a valiant effort the defending champions failed to make it to the playoffs.
MI’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was a big flop during the cash-rich IPL. MI captain and Indian team member Rohit Sharma updated about Hardik Pandya’s possible return to bowling. Sharma revealed that the 27-year-old hasn’t started bowling yet, but is expected to start bowling from the next week.
For the Baroda lad, injuries at regular intervals have hindered his return to bowling. Hardik last bowled two overs during the Sri Lanka-India T20I on July 25 and didn’t touch the bowl in the IPL 2021.
The all-rounder, who is a part of the T20 World Cup squad, has been under regular scrutiny and questions have been raised about his place in the squad. Pandya is also under constant watch by the medical team.
“In terms of his bowling,Hardik hasn’t bowled yet. So the physios, the trainers, the medical team is working on his bowling. As of now, all I know is, he hasn’t bowled a single ball yet. But, we wanted to take one game at a time and see where he stands. He didn’t bowl today as well, but, he’s getting better day by day. So, in the next week or so, he might be able to bowl-only the doctors or the physios will be able to give an update on that,” Rohit said at the press conference after MI’s final league match.
It was not just Pandya’s bowling the franchise missed this season, captain Rohit also talked about Hardik’s batting lean patch. The all-rounder only contributed 127 runs in the 12 matches he played at a paltry average of 14.11. Sharma acknowledged it was a disappointing for Hardik, but expressed his confidence on his abilities.
“As far as Hardik’s batting is concerned, yes he will be a little disappointed. But, he’s a quality player, there’s no doubt about that and he has come back from tough situations before as well. Personally for him, he will not be happy with his batting. But, again, the team has confidence in his ability. I personally have confidence in his ability. So, yeah, he’s getting better every time that he goes onto the field-he looks better and better- but again, a player like him is probably just one innings away from getting back to his own natural way,” Rohit added.
