India skipper Rohit Sharma is in a bid to build a promising squad for the T20 World Cup which is slated to kick off from October 16 this year. And how can this Indian team be imagined without mentioning a fiery all-rounder like Hardik Pandya.
Talking about Hardik's, who is not a part of the squad for the West Indies series, the white-ball skipper said:"Hardik Pandya is an important player, he brings three skills to the table. We have not had a discussion on whether he can play as pure batter or not. It is about everyone being available. Since the T20 World Cup, we have had injuries. The important thing is to get everyone available, once they are available, we will look at the second step.”
“The door is open for everyone, we do not make decisions quickly, we want to go with the right combination because, in Australia, you will get different conditions. You will require different skillsets there, we want to prepare accordingly and we want to cover all the bases,” he added.
Due to a lower back injury, the star Indian all-rounder is yet to play any competitive match post the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE which got over in November 2021. Hardik, who also will be missing the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament, is set to captain the Gujarat Titans team as the new franchise debuts in the Indian Premier League 2022.
Injury has always remained a matter to ponder for Indian team especially in the shortest format which requires a different level of fitness altogether.
While speaking about the injury crisis, Rohit said: “We need to get backups ready with a packed schedule heading into the T20 WC".
Replying to a query on whether the Men in Blue would look to give games to everyone in the squad, Rohit said: “Yeah, the idea is to identify the players who are going to play the World Cup, try and give them game time. There are a lot of players who are injured, come the World Cup, I do not know who is going to be fit, so we just have to get everyone ready for any situation."
“We have a very packed schedule and injuries are bound to happen, it is important that we give guys who are going to fill those roles, enough gametime. It is important that we use this series and the next series that will follow after this, to our good potential and see whoever are likely to have, what they can offer us,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rohit was also asked about his fitness update to which he said: "I am following specific programs. I want to stay injury free. Injuries are bound to happen. You got to do whatever you can to prevent the injuries. It’s important to stay injury free".
The 34-year-old talked about the role of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
“Kuldeep Yadav & Yuzvendra Chahal are great assets in the past. It starts with us giving them confidence and game time, full support from Team. At the same time, there are so many options. In the shortest format, we also look for players with batting abilities. Their role is to get wickets in the middle order. The duo & slowly go back into the rhythm. Kuldeep Yadav, in particular needs some time. I hope both come good for us,” Rohit said.
According to Gujarat Titans' spin bowling coach Aashish Kapoor, Pandya has begun practice and even started to bowl in the nets.
"Last two months I have been in Bahrain, I was coaching the National team over there. So, Nehra has been in constant touch with him from the time we have retained him and Nehra has been talking to him. He has also spoken about how to arrange and where to arrange practice sessions for him and get those things done," Aashish said.
"Asking him to play a few Ranji Trophy games before he turns up for a camp which may be in March with some point in March may be in Mid-March. So, he has been also starting to bowl that's what he has told Nehra. He has started to bowl, he is bowling well and batting he has no problems in any case because mainly we want to know whether he can bowl for us like how in the Indian team," he added.
"So, if he can bowl and bat both it is an added advantage because there are not too many all-rounders in India (medium pace all-rounders). He is the only one that you can think of at the moment so if you have that all-rounder with you then I think you are on the plus side," Kapoor said.
Pandya did not bowl much in IPL 2021 for Mumbai and he even did not bowl much for India in ICC T20 World Cup 2021 due to injury. Pandya's contribution to his franchise as both batter and bowler will give his team management more options and certainly will add variety to the bowling attack.
