Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has clarified that the veteran all-rounder Hardik Pandya needs to focus on his comeback only after gaining enough game time through the India A team in the forthcoming Australia A series.
Speaking to JioStar, Gambhir showered praise on the ace all-rounder for the impact he creates across three departments of the game. Interestingly, Pandya has been included in the India A squad for the forthcoming One Day series against Australia A.
“If you talk about Hardik, very few teams have a player like that who can bowl 10 overs for you, plus bat at number six or seven, plus with that impact. But he needs game time as well. Because after the IPL, he hasn’t played a lot of cricket. So if the focus is only that he has to play the 50-over format, then he might be short of cricket. Game time going into the World Cup is going to be extremely, extremely important. You cannot go there half-cooked,” Gambhir told JioHotstar.
“So you should have enough game time; your rhythm should be so good, because going to the World Cup, there are no ifs and buts,” he added.
Interestingly, Pandya has been excluded from India’s T20I squad for the West Indies, starting October 6. Further, he is also omitted from India’s ODI squad for the home series against the West Indies.
India A One-Day squad vs Australia A: Priyansh Arya, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal [VC], Ruturaj Gaikwad [C], Rajat Patidar, Kumar Kushagra [WK], Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Arshin Kulkarni, Arshad Khan, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya*, Prabhsimran Singh [WK], Gurjapneet Singh, Yash Thakur
