Former Indian Captain and Ex BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has backed All-Rounder Hardik Pandya to make a return to Test cricket. Pandya, 29-years-old has not featured in Test cricket since 2018 with his last appearance coming against England back in August 2018.
He sustained a scary back injury during the Asia Cup in 2018. It occurred in the 18th over when he missed a step to fracture his lower back in a high-voltage match against Pakistan. His acute lower back injury kept him away from all cricketing action for 4 months before he made a comeback on January 2019.
Hardik Pandya Has Acute Lower Back Injury. He Is Able To Stand At The Moment And Medical Team Is Assessing Him.
Very Less Chances That He’d Be Able To Bat. Though We’d Hardly Need Him To Bat Today.
Hope He Gets Well Soon 😇🙏 #INDvPAK #INDvsPAK #PAKvIND pic.twitter.com/EBRgVjoGSQ
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) September 19, 2018
Though Pandya has regularly featured in ODIs and T20Is for India, the 29-year-old hasn’t played a single Test match. In that while, India lost 2 WTC finals while Hardik Pandya became Captain of the Indian T20 team. His success in IPL 2022 as a Captain is among the reasons why BCCI appointed him as the Skipper for the shortest format.
Also Read: Australia’s Journey to World Test Championship Triumph 2023
However, Sourav Ganguly, who was present at the Oval (for the WTC final) as Australia handed a heavy 209-run defeat to India insisted Pandya to stage a return to the Longest format. While speaking about the future players for the Indian test team, Ganguly named the possible youngsters who can represent India in the future.
“India has enormous reserves. When you look at some of the performances. I don’t consider IPL performances if we are sticking to Test cricket. In domestic cricket there are some fantastic players and you will only find out when you give them opportunities.”
Test stats of Hardik Pandya suggests that India needs him back!
Pandya might not have played too many Test matches for India but his records indicate that he has all the required ingredients for becoming a regular starter for India. In 11 Test matches (with the Bat), Hardik has scored 532 runs in 18 Innings including a Century and 4 Half-centuries.
Whether it be Jaiswal or Patidar, Abhimanyu Easwaran from Bengal scores a lot of runs. Shubman Gill is young, Ruturaj Gaikwad and I hope Hardik Pandya is listening. I want to see him play Test cricket, especially in these conditions.” said Ganguly.
With the Ball, Hardik Pandya has scalped 17 wickets including a Fifer against England at Nottingham.
