Pandya revealed how he worsened his ankle injury in an attempt to return for World Cup 2023.
Not only did Pandya miss the World Cup, but his injury proved to be serious enough for him to miss the subsequent home Australia T20Is, the South Africa tour, and the home Afghanistan T20Is.
He only got fit recently and has been training for his return to cricket as he is set to lead the Mumbai Indians in the upcoming IPL 2024 tournament.
Hardik Pandya revealed that he was initially informed of a 25-day rehabilitation period, he tried to push himself for a comeback within 5 days and ended up worsening his injury.
"I am such a kind of cricketer who doesn't start 2-3 months before, I start my journey 1 year back for this World Cup, I already planned my routine 1 and half years before and worked accordingly. This was a freak injury very few people know about it my injury got extended and I had to take more time because when I got injured then it was 25-day rehab injury.
I was missing the World Cup but I pushed because I had to come back and when I came out I informed the team that I will be back in 5 days. I got injections done on my ankles at three different places and I had to remove blood from my ankle because it swollen was that much," Hardik said in a chat with Star Sports.
Hardik said that he tried to make his return as soon as possible for the Indian team, but the injury got serious and he ended up missing 3 months of action.
"In a way, I didn't want to give up and for the team, I will give my best. At one point in time, I was aware that if I kept pushing myself I might get injured for a long time. For me that was never the answer I was like if there was one percent chance I could be with the team I would try my best and while I was pushing myself, I had this re-occurrence and my injury became a three-month injury because as I was pushing I was not able to walk but I was trying to run that point of time," he said.
Hardik, who has always dreamed of winning the World Cup for his team, couldn't regain full fitness to make a comeback in the showpiece event, and that is a regret he'll always have.
"I tried to push myself for 10 days, took painkillers, and tried to make sure of a comeback as to how can I rejoin the team. For me, the biggest pride is to play for the country and there is never been a bigger pride than playing for the country. This was my baby playing World Cup at home is my child so I wanted to be there for them, nonetheless we win or not, all I wanted to be there for my child and obviously I missed out and that is something that is always going to heavy on my heart," he said.
(Star Sports inputs)