Hardik Pandya’s road back to international cricket has hit yet another bump, this time just as the finish line seemed in sight.
The India all-rounder, working his way back at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, has picked up a late leg niggle that has forced him to stop bowling and left his participation in the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in serious doubt.
He was close. Very close.
According to information learned by TimesofIndia.com, Pandya had been operating at full intensity and ticking all the right boxes in his rehab. Batting, running, general movement – all passed without any major concern. Then came the setback.
A source tracking his progress said Pandya has been asked to pause bowling because of discomfort in the leg. He is expected to resume in due course, but the timing is brutal. With the T20I series beginning on September 13 in New Delhi, the gap is simply too narrow for him to reach the required bowling fitness. The CoE, as always, wants to be completely convinced before clearing a player for international duty, and at the moment that all-clear has not arrived.
For the selectors, who are scheduled to meet this week to finalise the squad, that update will weigh heavily. They will be briefed on the fitness of all players currently working back to full fitness in Bengaluru, with Pandya now slipping from “near ready” to “unlikely” for the Afghanistan games.
The 32-year-old has not played a competitive match since May 24, when he turned out for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. His last outing in India colours came even earlier, on March 8 in the T20 World Cup final. Since that night, he has missed the white-ball series at home against Afghanistan and the subsequent tours of Ireland and England, his comeback repeatedly pushed back by untimely setbacks.
This is not the first late twist in his return trail either. Before the ODI series against Afghanistan, Pandya suffered a relapse in the form of a low-grade quadriceps sprain. On that occasion too, he had been at peak fitness, training strongly, only for injury to intervene at the last moment.
The pattern is worrying for India, who still view Pandya as a central piece of their T20 structure – the rare seam-bowling all-rounder who balances the XI and changes games with both bat and ball. Each delay nudges the question a little louder: how long can they plan around a player whose body keeps pushing back?
There is at least some good news from the CoE corridors. All-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar are understood to be progressing well and are on track for the Afghanistan series, bolstering India’s options in the middle order and with the ball. Their rise, or return in Washington’s case, could prove important if Pandya is formally ruled out.
Jasprit Bumrah’s case sits somewhere in between. The fast bowler is described as touch-and-go for the three T20Is against Afghanistan, his participation still uncertain. What is clearer is his broader trajectory: he remains on course for the Asian Games, a key target in his workload management.
For now, though, the spotlight lingers on Pandya. Another niggle, another pause, another series that may slip past. At 32, with India’s white-ball calendar packed and competition for places only intensifying, how many more false starts can he afford?
