Team India batter KL Rahul has confirmed that veteran all-rounder Hardik Pandya will miss the 2023 World Cup match against England on Sunday, October 29 in Lucknow as he continues to recover from his ankle injury as well. He also backed Suryakumar Yadav to do well against England.

At a pre-match conference, Rahul said: “Hardik has been a very important member of the team .. so not having him is also a bit of a miss for the team. Surya will probably get his chance and we know what he can do. So our confidence is in Surya till Hardik comes back.”

However, Team India have not lost a single match in the 2023 World Cup, having won five out of five so far as well. On the other hand, defending champions England are placed at the bottom of the points table with four defeats from five matches. Rahul, though, said that India wouldn’t be taking England lightly.

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“They’re still a dangerous team. We’ll not go by what has happened with them in the last few games. We’ll focus on tomorrow [Sunday],” he commented. “It’ll be a great opportunity if we get to bat first before the next stage. In the next four games if we can get to bat first it’ll be a good challenge for us to just see how to pace the innings and it’s been some time since we’ve batted first.”

When he was asked about how India have managed to be so consistent in the tournament, KL Rahul added it to preparations and their aggressive mindset as well.

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“I think it’s just how we’ve been really aggressive. And also, our preparations have been really, really good, and very particular, very spot on from the time at least I’ve come back into the team since the Asia Cup. I think the players have gotten enough chances and enough time in their particular role. So, yeah, that again, I think goes down to preparation. We’ve prepared really well. So that’s where the confidence is coming from,” KL Rahul concluded.