India's outgoing chief selector MSK Prasad is happy with the progress made by Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Shikhar Dhawan with regards to their respective injuries.
Prasad has been observing the fitness and overall readiness of the Indian trio in the DY Patil T20 tournament.
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"I am here to watch Shikhar Dhawan playing in the DY Patil tournament. I am here especially to watch Dhawan, Bhuvi, and Hardik. I am happy with the way they are progressing," Prasad told ANI with the selection date for the home series against South Africa nearing by the day.
Proteas play three ODIs in Dharamshala (March 12), Lucknow (March 15) and Kolkata (March 18).
Hardik has been recovering from a back injury for which he had to go through surgery late last year. Bhuvneshwar also has been in a rehabilitation process from surgery after going down with sports hernia.
Dhawan injured his shoulder playing against Australia earlier in January and was subsequently ruled out of the tour of New Zealand that followed.
Prasad, meanwhile, declined to comment whether he'll be the one making the selection call for the series against the Proteas. "I have no idea about that, we will have to wait for the instructions from the secretary and BCCI president. I am not in a position to answer this," said the man, whose contract has expired.
The former India Test cricketer is one of the two members of the existing selection panel who'll be replaced soon when the Cricket Advisory Committee finalises the interview and appointment process.
Prasad also came out in defence of skipper Virat Kohli, who endured a rare disappointing phase with the bat in New Zealand, failing to cross the 20-run mark even once during the Test matches.
"We are talking about a legend who has been a run-machine for many years," he said. "He is also a human and he can have one odd series where he doesn't perform. One series should not go against him, he has been a phenomenal player."
(Inputs from ANI)
