Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Hardik Pandya is likely to miss India’s next World Cup match vs England in Lucknow on October 29. The all-rounder, recovering from an ankle injury he picked up during the match vs Bangladesh in Pune, wasn’t available for the team’s next match vs New Zealand in Dharamsala too.
It is learnt that the injury is not serious but the management is not keen to rush Pandya.
“Yes, Hardik is likely to miss the next match vs England in Lucknow. It is more of a precaution at this stage and nothing serious,” a BCCI official tells CricketNext.
The 30-year-old didn’t travel with the side to Dharamsala and was advised to rest by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) medical team. It is now likely that he will link-up with the team before the match vs Sri Lanka in Mumbai.
India won their last fixture vs New Zealand to maintain their winning streak and then enjoyed a two-day break in the picturesque hilly city. As CricketNext had reported on October 23, the Indian cricket team will spend two more days in the city before resuming their World Cup campaign. Rohit Sharma and Co. will leave for Lucknow on October 25 for the clash against England.
It has been a near-perfect campaign for the Indian cricket team so far as they are yet to drop a game and have looked good in all three departments. In the absence of Pandya, the side made two changes for the clash against New Zealand – Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar Yadav in the Playing XI, Shardul Thakur on the bench – and it turned out to be a fantastic change as Shami made an emphatic return to the XI with a five-wicket haul.
Surya couldn’t do much as he was unfortunately run-out early in the innings but it was a dream outing for Shami and the Men in Blue.
