Hardik Pandya could be a vital cog in the Indian team’s wheel at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, slated to be held in UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14.
However, the all-rounder hasn't been at his best after going through back surgery later in 2019. He had barely bowled until the Sri Lanka tour in July and didn’t bowl a single over in the second phase of IPL 2021 for Mumbai Indians (MI).
It is important for India that Hardik starts bowling heading into the T20 World Cup, else it will be difficult for him to get a place in the playing XI as a specialist batter.
Meanwhile, Indian vice-captain and MI skipper Rohit Sharma on Friday (October 8) said that he expects Pandya to start bowling from "next week".
Notably, Team India will start their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.
"In terms of his (Hardik) bowling, the physios, trainers are working on his bowling. He hasn't bowled a single ball yet. We wanted to take one match at a time and see where he stands," Rohit said during a virtual press conference after Mumbai’s last IPL game.
"He is getting better day-by-day. In the next week or so, he might be able to bowl, who knows? Only the doctors and physios will be able to give an update on that," he added.
Hardik also had a disappointing IPL season with the bat, scoring only 127 runs in 12 innings at an average of 14.11 and a strike rate of 113.39.
The only noteworthy knock he played was against Punjab Kings. Chasing 136 to win, the defending champions were struggling at 92/4 after 15.1 overs and it was then Pandya stepped up to the plate. He smashed 40 not out off 30 balls (4 fours and 2 sixes) to take MI over the line with an over to spare.
"As far as his batting is concerned, yes, he will be a little disappointed but he is a quality player. He has come back from tough situations before as well," Rohit remarked.
"Personally for him, he will not be happy with his batting but the team has confidence on his ability. I personally have confidence on his ability.
"He is getting better and a player like him is probably just one game away from getting his natural way and we have seen it in the past. If I have to put everything together, I am confident of his ability and there is no doubt he will be a valuable asset," he continued.
Rohit isn't too concerned about the form of the Indian players in the Mumbai Indians squad as he feels T20 World Cup will be a "different ball game".
"I personally don't like to count too much into what has happened in the IPL and what is going to happen in T20 World Cup," the India vice-captain said.
"T20 World Cup is a different ball game, franchise cricket is different. So you cannot really look too much into those aspects. Yes the form matters, but it's a different squad there and it's a different squad here. So you cannot really look too much into that."
Besides Rohit, the other five MI players in India’s T20 squad are Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.
"Yes all the six guys, who we have here, would have liked to have a good run, but it didn't happen," Rohit admitted although Kishan after being promoted to open slammed two attacking half-centuries and Suryakumar also played a whirlwind half-century in the last game.
"You saw a couple of fine performances today from Surya and Ishan, but again, when you talk about the World Cup, there will be couple of practice games I believe guys can get back into their rhythm and see what we can do there."
(With PTI inputs)
