Indian deputy skipper, Rohit Sharma said that while Hardik Pandya is yet to attain complete fitness to bowl now, the management is expecting him to contribute with the ball when the T20 World Cup commences. Hardik did not roll his arms during India’s warm-up match against England, which the Men-in-Blue won on Monday. Notably, Pandya was seen bowling a bit during India’s tour of Sri Lanka but he represented Mumbai Indians (MI) as a specialist batsman in the entire UAE leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

During about the toss ahead of the second warm-up game against Australia, Rohit Sharma said, “We obviously want to make sure we get our sixth bowling option as well. Possibly today is the game we can try all those things, try and see who can bowl, the bowler who can come in the bowl as the 6th option.”

WATCH – Virat Kohli Comes To Bowl Against Australia In Warm-up Game 

He further added, “He is coming along pretty well. But it’s still going to take some time I think. Because he hasn’t bowled much. So when you play in these tournaments, you need to be absolutely fit and 100 percent. In fact, more than 100 percent. He is just getting there, he hasn’t started bowling yet. But hopefully, in the next few days, he will start bowling. He should be ready anytime when the World Cup starts.”

Talking about the bowling options, Rohit Sharma said, “Possibly, we need to find that sixth option (Rohit’s off-spinners ready). Myself, Virat and Suryakumar, all those guys need to come in and bowl see who can be that sixth option. Even if you play with 5 bowlers, we have got the quality. But always you need that 6th option to free your bowlers, in case someone has a bad day. It’s always nice to have options when you’re playing a tournament as big as the World Cup.”

ALSO READ: Ravichandran Ashwin Jolts Australia With two successive wickets

Rohit came out at the toss instead of Virat Kohli for India‘s second warm-up match on Wednesday against Australia at the ICC Academy Ground, Dubai.