Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) began their second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 with back-to-back defeats against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) respectively. The five-time champions are clearly missing the services of their star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was unfit to play in first two matches.
MI bowling coach Shane Bond has opened up about Pandya’s fitness saying that the all-rounder has missed the UAE leg of matches so far as the franchise is trying to balance the needs of the team with the needs of Team India, keeping an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup which is scheduled to take place from October 17.
“Look, Hardik is training well like Rohit. He trained today and is getting closer to playing. We are obviously balancing the needs of our team with the needs of Team India as well. The one thing this franchise does really well is look after its players. We are not only trying to win this competition but also have an eye on the World Cup. We are hoping Hardik will be back for the next match and as I said, he trained today and trained pretty well on all counts,” Bond said.
The former New Zealand fast bowler has hinted that Pandya might return to the playing XI on Sunday in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Dubai.
On being asked whether the franchise has received any “hard directives” from the BCCI to preserve the Baroda all-rounder, the former Kiwi pace denied saying that the franchise is desperate to play Pandya. However, he cleared that they have to balance everything up and not rush him back into the team and risk getting him injured before the playoffs.
“There’s no hard directive. I think one thing you want to do with the key players in your team is look after them. We are obviously desperate to put him back out on the field and he was desperate to play out tonight as well but you have to balance everything up, you have to consider what the player wants and one thing our franchise does is look after its players. There’s also no point in rushing him back to get injured and miss the rest of the tournament when we may have a chance to win it. I think we’re doing the right thing as I said, hopefully we will get him back shortly and he’ll get us back into the tournament, help us into the playoffs and hopefully win the tournament,” the 46-year-old clarified.
The star all-rounder will be an important cog in India’s wheel in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Chief national selector Chetan Sharma while announcing India’s team for the T20 World Cup on September 9 had called Pandya as one of India’s leading all-rounder, and assured that Hardik will bowl his full quota of overs in the T20 World Cup.
