All-rounder Hardik Pandya likely to feature in red-ball games for Baroda in the 2024-25 domestic season: Reports
Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya could reportedly turn out for Baroda and play red-ball cricket in the 2024-25 domestic season. The development, if true, can be significant in the wake of India's packed red-ball schedule, which will see them play three home Tests against New Zealand and five away matches each against Australia and England.
India are currently locked in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home. The first match is being played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The second Test will be held at Green Park in Kanpur from September 27 to October 1.
A report in Sports Tak quoted a top source in the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) as saying that there is a fair chance of Pandya returning to first-class cricket for Baroda in the 2024-25 domestic season, keeping the Test series against New Zealand and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in mind.
Incidentally, the 30-year-old was recently seen practicing with the red ball in a video that he shared on his official social media handle.
When was the last time Hardik Pandya played Test cricket for India?
Once touted as the next Kapil Dev, the Baroda all-rounder has not played Test cricket for India since 2018, when he was part of the visitors' red-ball squad for the tour of England.
Having made his red-ball debut against Sri Lanka in Galle in July 2017, the right-arm pacer has only featured in 11 Test matches so far, claiming 17 wickets at an average of 31.05. Pandya has one five-wicket haul to his name in Test matches. He picked up 5-28 against England in Nottingham in August 2018.
With the bat, the 30-year-old has scored 532 runs in Test cricket at an average of 31.29, which includes one hundred and four half-centuries. His best of 108 came off only 96 balls against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in August 2017. The aggressive knock featured eight fours and seven sixes. Significantly, his last first-class match was against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium in December 2018.
Even though Pandya hasn't played red-ball cricket for a while, he has featured in 86 ODIs and 102 T20Is and was part of Team India's 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad.