Star Indian all-rounder set to MISS T20I series against Australia due to injury, could miss South Africa tour as well 

Hardik Pandya tore his ligament on his right foot during India's clash with Bangladesh.

Star Indian all-rounder set to MISS T20I series against Australia due to injury, could miss South Africa tour as well 

Hardik Pandya is set to miss the Australia series and the tour of South Afica (Image via ESPN)

Star Indian all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, has missed the majority of the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup due to injury and it now looks like he could miss India’s T20I series with Australia and the tour of South Africa. In India’s 4th match of the World Cup, he tore a ligament on his right ankle and since then has been in recovery and rehab in the National Cricket Academy. 

It was earlier reported that Pandya was set to return in the final matches of the World Cup, but after further scanning it was revealed that the injury was worse and he was ruled out. Prasidh Krishna came in as his replacement and the team combination was changed to fit in Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami in the playing 11. 

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Then 4 days after the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup finals, India and Australia will play a 5 match series, followed by India’s tour of South Africa. Hardik Pandya could return to the Indian side for a 3-match T20I series with Afghanistan, which starts on 11th January, 2024. 

One man’s injury, another man’s opportunity

Hardik Pandya’s injury was seen as a huge loss for the Indian side. Losing their only pace bowling all-rounder brought changes to the Indian side that actually proved fruitful. Pacer Mohammed Shami was brought in as the 3rd pacer while Suryakumar Yadav was brought in to bat at number 6. 

Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami poses with the Man of the Player award after picking up 7 wickets (Image via ESPN)

Although Suryakumar Yadav hasn’t fired yet, scoring only 88 runs in 6 innings, Shami proved why he shouldn’t have been benched. In the 6 matches he has bowled, Shami has picked up 23 wickets with an average of just 9.13. 

In his first match, Shami picked up a five wicket haul and in the next 3 matches he got 11 wickets. He went wicketless against the Netherlands, but then took a record breaking 7 wickets in the semi-final. 

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