India all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be missing the five-T20I series against Australia set to be played after the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 with injury. Pandya sustained an ankle injury during India’s league stage match against Bangladesh on October 19 and was subsequently ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover in time. The developments were first reported by ESPNCricinfo.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Pandya was advised six to eight weeks of rest by the BCCI medical staff after twisting his ankle in the match against Bangladesh. Initially, Pandya was expected to get fit for India’s last league match against Netherlands on November 12 but failing to do so saw him being replaced with Prasidh Krishna in the India squad.
The squad for the T20I series against Australia is expected to be announced on November 15 – the day India take on New Zealand in the ODI World Cup 2023 semi-final. The selectors, led by former India bowling all-rounder Ajit Agarkar are also expected to rest key players who are part of the World Cup squad in lieu of workload management.
With most of India’s World Cup 2023 squad expected to be rested, fringe players like Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jitesh Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and others – who played in Asian Games 2023 and won a gold, may get a chance to play.
The series starts on November 23 in Visakhapatnam and ends on December 3 in Bengaluru. The other three matches will be played on November 26, November 28 and December 1 in Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Nagpur, respectively.
Apart from the players, head coach Rahul Dravid is also expected to be rested for the series, reported ESPNCricinfo. In his place, NCA director VVS Laxman may take on the reins. Notably, Dravid’s two-year contract is also ending after the World Cup but there are no updates on his extension or replacement as of now.
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