There are a lot of speculations about India all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s return to competitive action after recovering from an ankle injury.

Hardik was last seen in action during India’s World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh in Pune on October 19. He picked up an ankle injury during that game, which ruled him out of the remainder of the marquee event. Since then, the all-rounder has been working at the NCA to regain his fitness.

Apart from the major chunk of World Cup, Pandya missed the five-match T20I series against Australia at home as well as the white-ball leg of the South Africa tour.

Recently, a report claimed that Hardik might not recover in time to participate in the IPL 2024 season, likely to be played between March 22 and end of May.

However, reliable sources have told TOI that Hardik Pandya has recovered from his ankle injury and is likely to lead India in the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan at home, starting January 11.

“He has completely recovered from his ankle injury. He has been training every day,” a source close to the developments quoted as saying by TOI.

"He should definitely be fit for the IPL, and possibly the Afghanistan T20Is. Hardik is fit and fine. In fact, he has been working out daily. All the talk about him going on to miss the IPL is just rumour. There are still almost four months left for IPL-2024, so anything, at this moment, is just speculation," the source added.

Notably, Hardik Pandya was appointed Mumbai Indians’ (MI) new captain last week. He would be succeeding Rohit Sharma, who led MI to five IPL titles in his 10-year stint as skipper.

This announcement came less than a month after Hardik returned to MI, following a high-profile trade from Gujarat Titans (GT), whom he led in the past two seasons.

Ever since the T20 World Cup 2022, Hardik Pandya has been captaining the Indian T20I team as well. However, his absence in the last two series against Australia and South Africa saw Suryakumar Yadav stepping into the leadership role.