Mullanpur: India all-rounder Hardik Pandya was ruled out of the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan on Wednesday after suffering a thigh muscle strain, hours after being cleared to play. Pandya had gone to the Center of Excellence (COE) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Bengaluru to seek clearance to play after recovering from his back spasm injury. He suffered this injury while playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL. It is possible that this new injury may have occurred due to bowling the full 10 overs during the assessment in the COE. The ODI series against Afghanistan begins in Dharamshala on Saturday. After this, two more matches will be played in Lucknow and Chennai on June 17 and 20 respectively.
“He will take three weeks to recover, so there is no possibility of him playing in the ODI series as his rehabilitation will not be complete,” a BCCI source said.
Pandya could not play some matches for Mumbai Indians in the IPL but came to play in the last few matches of the team. The 32-year-old all-rounder’s latest injury comes at a time when he is being encouraged to play more ODI cricket with an eye on next year’s ODI World Cup.
Pandya’s left ankle injury during the first round match against Bangladesh in the ODI World Cup 2023 had thrown the team off balance. Pandya remains key to India’s plans for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.
Pandya has been kept out of India’s T20 squad to keep him match fit for the three-match series against Afghanistan and then the same number of matches against England next month, even though he has been a part of the team that has won the World Cup twice in this format. India will also be without senior batsman Virat Kohli in this series who has a hamstring strain but former captain Rohit Sharma is available for the series after recovering from a similar injury.
