India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is expected to make a big impact in the upcoming T20 World Cup, slated to be held in UAE from October 17 to November 14.

Hardik hasn't been at his best after recovering from a back injury. The 27-year-old had given up bowling after back surgery until the Sri Lanka tour and it is important for India that his fitness remains in the best possible shape heading into the T20 World Cup.

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With less than two months to go for the showpiece tournament, Paras Mhambrey, who was India's bowling coach during the white-ball series in Sri Lanka, revealed that Pandya is gradually regaining fitness and it is important to manage his workload.

"With Hardik, we are obviously slowly taking it forward. I am not going to push him in terms of the number of overs to be bowled. He is pretty much being monitored on how much we are going to push him. We have to slowly build up. The World Cup is coming. For us, knowing that he is going to play a very crucial role for us, it is important to manage his bowling workload very well," Mhambrey, bowling coach at the National Cricket Academy, told IANS.

"We know the batting that he offers you. But if we add the bowling to it, he brings a different dimension. In that sense we are working on it. Everyone -- strength & conditioning department and the physios -- is in sync and we have chatted it out," he added.

Hardik Pandya didn’t bowl a single delivery in last year’s IPL, the first half of IPL 2021 and Paras Mhambrey is certain that the all-rounder will bowl for the Mumbai Indians in the UAE-leg of IPL 14, starting September 19.

“Yes, the way I look at him and the way I feel, I am sure he will bowl [in IPL]. First step is the IPL. Maybe the franchise will decide how will they use him. That, kind of, will decide how it will be preparatory ground for the World Cup,” he remarked.

(With IANS inputs)