Cricket
Ashish Nehra warns of ‘tricky’ Hardik Pandya situation for Team India at T20 WC | Cricket
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The BCCI on Thursday announced India’s squads for the upcoming tour of South Africa, confirming reports that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will skip the white-ball leg. While the star duo has already been away from T20 action, the two batters will also not be featuring in the fifty-over format, following a gruelling ODI World Cup campaign that culminated in a final loss to Australia. Suryakumar Yadav was retained as captain in T20Is while KL Rahul takes over the leadership reins in ODIs.
The absence of Rohit and Kohli in T20Is is significant; the T20 World Cup takes place in June next year and it was speculated that Rohit – if not Kohli – will return to the format as captain. Hardik Pandya, the all-rounder who had taken over the captaincy in the shortest format, faced an injury during the World Cup and there is no time stamp over his return to the format. As such, it was reported that BCCI would try to convince Rohit to return to T20Is as captain.
Even as the duo made itself unavailable for the white-ball leg, former India pacer Ashish Nehra still believes that Kohli and Rohit can return to the format if they want to.
“Somebody like Rohit Sharma. Somebody like Virat Kohli. If they are fit, we do not need to discuss their form. Definitely, they will be there in the Caribbean and USA,” Nehra said while speaking on JioCinema.
Nehra also talked about Hardik Pandya’s absence, stating that his injury has made the situation tricky for Team India. Hardik has worked with Nehra during the former’s stint at Gujarat Titans in the 2022 and 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League.
“I don’t know about captaincy, there is still time. It is a tricky one for the selectors also. Hardik Pandya also got injured and it will be interesting to see when he comes back into the Indian side. If Hardik Pandya plays straight in the IPL, it will be difficult for any selection committee,” said Nehra.
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