The Indian team management has got some extra motivation to keep an eye on the Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Baroda at the Wankhede Stadium, which kicks off on Friday. Almost after rehabilitating for three months, the star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is all set to take the cricket field again. He missed the action because he was stretchered off the ground during an Asia Cup match against Pakistan in Dubai after hurting his back badly.
The all-rounder, who didn’t train with his Baroda teammates on match eve but came to meet them in the dressing room, is excited to resume his career, which has seen several injury breaks.
During a recent interview with Times of India, Hardik said, ” I’m very excited. I’m done resting, being away from the game for so long. I wanted to come back smart and in the right way. I’m quite happy that I’m finally fit and ready to play cricket. I’m coming back after three months, I just want to express myself, play my best cricket and enjoy myself.”
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Considering that he’s up and running, Pandya is heavily tipped to join the Indian squad for the next two Tests against Australia. This game can become crucial for his comeback into the national squad. Talking about the same, the Baroda man said that it’s about getting fit and coming back to the game. He has always been known to giving his 100% for whichever team he played. Right now, he is not thinking about India, but focusing on how he can contribute for Baroda to win the game.
It was his desire to make a Test comeback that saw Pandya choosing this match to get back into action rather than play for India ‘A’ in the One-day series in New Zealand. Describing the same, Hardik said, “I picked this Ranji Trophy game over India ‘A’, because I want to play Tests. There is a chance that if I do well and the team requires me, I might be picked for the third and fourth Tests in Australia. I wanted to test my fitness in a four-day game, rather than a One-day because this would exactly give me an idea of where I stand.”
A huge controversy erupted when it emerged that pacer Mohammad Shami was instructed by the BCCI to bowl only 15 overs a day when he turned out for Bengal before the Australia tour. He eventually didn’t follow it. However, there are no reports regarding any similar instructions for Pandya as well.
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Unlike Shami, Hardik has been given no specific instructions regarding how many overs he should bowl in each innings of the first class game. When Shami turned out for Bengal before the tour of Australia, he was asked to not to bowl more than 15 overs in an innings but ended up bowling more because of his willingness to.
Talking about his preparations ahead of the game, Hardik said, “I don’t play games like that, because it will be an injustice to Baroda if I come with a precondition that I’m supposed to bowl only five or eight overs. Me and the fitness team decided that I’m going to play this game the way I play for India, because when I play for India, I won’t enjoy the luxury of bowling five overs and then resting. There’s nothing called workload in this game. If the team requires me to bowl 20 overs, I’ll bowl that much.”
