Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been on the sidelines for a long time, with his last international appearance coming at the T20 World Cup 2026 final earlier this year in March. Due to persistent injury setbacks, the reliable all-rounder has been unable to maintain a consistent run in the team, and Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir feels that there is no need to rush Pandya back into the side despite the ODI World Cup 2027 approaching fast. Notably, Pandya was recently named in the India A squad for the one-day matches against Australia A as he prepares to return to competitive cricket for the first time in so many months.
"Hardik, at the moment, if he cannot bowl ten overs and he hasn't played a lot of cricket since the IPL, we don't want to push him into international cricket, because international cricket can be extremely tough on your body as well,” Gambhir said at the press conference.
"So if he plays that India A series, obviously he'll get some game time as well. And that was the clear message to him: if he can play that A series and then if everything goes well, he can come back and be part of the T20s and the one-day squad as well.
In Pandya’s absence, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has emerged as a reliable performer and he was recently withdrawn from India’s squad for the T20 Asian games to be named in India’s ODI squad for the three-match series against West Indies. Nitish was one of the standout performers during India’s three-nil series sweep of Afghanistan, returning with six wickets across the three T20Is.
"From Nitish's point of view, it's actually a great thing that he's been withdrawn from the T20 format, and he'll get game time against West Indies," Gambhir said.
"We know how important seam-bowling allrounders will be in a year's time when we go to South Africa, and the more the merrier. And once Hardik comes back, obviously, it's going to be good. Sometimes we could even go on to play both of them in the playing XI.”