On Thursday, star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya shared a video where he was seen bowling with a red-ball during a practice in England spurring possible return to Test cricket. Pandya’s bowling with the red cherry captured people’s imaginations on social media after he put out several stories on Instagram. The injury-prone all-rounder last played Test cricket in September 2018 and underwent lower back surgery in 2019.
He was requested to play for India against Australia in the 2023 World Test Championship final but rejected it saying he didn’t want to take place of any regular red-ball player. His last first class match was played back in December 2018.
As it stands, Pandya still remains India’s best pace-bowling allrounder by such a far margin that Shivam Dube and Nitish Reddy are nowhere near his level nor skillset being from Baroda.
Following these posts on social media however , it seems like the allrounder wants to increase his workload before he heads for Bangladesh T20 series in October although he has not yet notified team management about plans for red ball cricket.
Since the World Cup final occurred in June, Pandya has only participated in two competitive matches against Sri Lanka in T20.
Asked whether Hardik had actually communicated to persons of significance (chief selector Ajit Agarkar, head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma) about his intentions, a senior BCCI source said: “it’s comforting to know that Hardik is bowling with red ball”.
The point is that unless he plays any domestic red-ball cricket, he cannot be selected for Test cricket directly even though his presence could provide the necessary balance as the fourth fast bowler and No.7 batsman in Australia.
He missed out on playing during the Duleep Trophy because of workload management; it remains to be seen whether he will participate in red ball cricket with Baroda or not.
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