IND vs ENG LIVE: India vs England 1st ODI LIVE: Hardik Pandya has been out of ODI action for almost one year. The Indian all-rounder featured last in the Sri Lanka series last year. So the India vs England first ODI on Tuesday marks the return of Pandya in the 50-overs format after a long gap. He has made a superb comeback in international T20 cricket, but it remains to be seen if the bowler has regained top fitness to bowl his full quota of ten overs against a top-notch side like Jos Buttler and co. Follow India England ODI Series LIVE updates on Insidesport.IN
The player was troubled with back injuries, which initially surfaced in 2018. He did miss a few series during the time and started playing post recovery. But the player finally decided to go under the knife in 2019 and was sidelined for majority of 2020. When he started to play for India again, he was primarily used as a batter against Australia and at home against England as well. He only started to bowl from around March last year.
IND vs ENG LIVE: Hardik Pandya RETURNS to ODI cricket after almost a YEAR, all eyes on Hardik the bowler, does his body allow him to bowl full tilt for ten overs?
IND vs ENG LIVE: How has Hardik Pandya the bowler fared?
- Hardik Pandya’s return to cricket after a long break did a world of good to his bowling.
- Since his return, he has been bowling at 140kph+ regularly and has bowled consistently.
- But all his stats are in T20s including a match-winning spell in the IPL 2022 Final.
- Since his return, he has bowled 30.5 overs in IPL 2022 in 15 matches, taking 8 wickets with an economy rate of 7.28.
- For India, he has played 9 matches, taking 6 wickets in 16 overs. But his economy rate has been on the higher side at 10.43.
- But for India, he has bowled only full quota of overs once, against England at Southampton.
- With his ODI return on the cards, it remains to be seen how his body holds up, bowling a minimum of 6 overs.
- With Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and another pacer leading the attack besides two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal, India will need a 6th bowling option.
- Hardik fits the bill perfectly. But it remains to be seen how many overs he does bowl in ODIs.
IND vs ENG LIVE: Hardik Pandya RETURNS to ODI cricket after almost a YEAR, all eyes on Hardik the bowler, does his body allow him to bowl full tilt for ten overs?
However, Pandya improved his fitness by leaps and bounds since then. He has been bowling regularly and played an important role with both the bat and ball in IPL 2022. His form has been quite solid for India too, leading India from the front. In the last IPL, he led Gujarat Lions to victory with 371 runs and eight wickets.
He has taken that confidence from there, and performed for the national team ever since. Hardik featured against South Africa and Ireland.
He also wore the India blue in the recently concluded England T20 series as well. Till now, he has not shown much signs of breaking down or any problems related to fitness. Those are really encouraging signs. A fit Pandya is a big asset to the Indian team in both the batting and bowling department.
But now lies the big test. If T20 is four overs, the ODI format means 10 overs as a specialist bowler. Also, that means he has to be spending more time on the cricket field. Does his body allow him to permit that? TO be fair, he might bowl a number of balls at the nets, but bowling in an open field against an opposition is a different thing altogether.
IND vs ENG LIVE: Hardik Pandya RETURNS to ODI cricket after almost a YEAR, all eyes on Hardik the bowler, does his body allow him to bowl full tilt for ten overs?
India’s squad for 3 ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, J Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Arshdeep Singh
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