The flamboyant Indian all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, who missed out on the ODIs and T20Is against New Zealand, has been “ruled out” of the upcoming two-match Test series in New Zealand. On Saturday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made an announcement that the all-rounder has traveled to London and will be under rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) until he regains full match fitness.

In a statement on Saturday, the BCCI said, “Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against New Zealand. He traveled to London and was accompanied by NCA Head Physio Ashish Kaushik for a review by spinal surgeon Dr. James Allibone.”

ALSO READ: James Neesham Comes Up With A Hilarious Reaction After Another Loss

Returning after going through a surgery of his lower back, Pandya last month flunked the bowling workload monitoring test, one of the mandatory requirements to be considered for selection.

On January 21, a BCCI official had revealed that Hardik failed the workload test while bowling at the NCA.

Talking about the same to PTI, a senior BCCI official said, “He must have felt that he will be fit. But as we know he has failed the fitness test contrary to what his trainer S Rajnikant claims. It was never about Yo-Yo Test but about bowling fitness. He failed the workload test which broadly means failing a fitness test.”

ALSO READ: Brian Lara Also To Feature In The Bushfire Relief Match

India and New Zealand are set to play two Test matches which are scheduled to commence on February 21. The two Test matches will be part of the ICC World Test Championship which India lead with 360 points from seven wins out of as many matches.

Currently, the men in blue are leading the 5-match T20I series by an unassailable 4-0 margin.