Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 10 (ANI): Hardik Pandya has been training consistently with Team India, and opener Rohit Sharma on Wednesday confirmed that the all-rounder has done enough to get ready for the upcoming limited-overs fixtures against England.
Hardik has in recent times stuck to playing as a finisher in the national team. While he did bowl in the second ODI against Australia in Sydney in November, the question on everyone’s mind has been whether he will return to bowling consistently any time soon.
Rohit said Hardik has worked not only on his batting, but also on his bowling during his stay of more than a month with Team India.
“I cant’ reveal who starts or who doesn’t start but of course he (Hardik) is an integral part of the squad. He is been working on his bowling and batting. Particular skill sets that he has trying to sharpen those as well,” said Rohit in a virtual press conference.
“It’s been good one month and a half that he has been with the team and what he needed to do in order to get ready for the limited-overs series, he has done pretty much everything,” he further said.
“So, it seems time has come for him to get ready and start doing what he does and you will see that on the 12th. He has worked hard on his bowling and batting as well in the last few weeks. I hope what the team expects him to do he is ready to do that,” Rohit added.
On Tuesday, Hardik shared a video on Twitter, in which he was seen practising the big shots to begin with and was also seen bowling full throttle towards the end of the clip. “Preparation done. Can’t wait to get on the field on the 12th,” Hardik wrote.
Not just the Australia series, the all-rounder also didn’t hit the bowling crease for his franchise Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League (IPL) title-winning campaign in 2020.
The 27-year-old was in India’s Test squad for the series against England, but he did not play a single Test as Virat Kohli-led side won the four-match series 3-1 to progress to the final of the World Test Championship. (ANI)