Why is Hardik Pandya not playing today's India vs Bangladesh Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 match?
After his match-winning performances with both the bat and ball in the 2023 Asia Cup, India have rested all-rounder Hardik Pandya for Friday's dead-rubber against Bangladesh at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Hardik has had several bouts with injuries in recent years which have prevented him from chipping in with the ball on a regular basis. His skillset of lower-order big-hitting plus wicket-taking fast-bowling is rare in India and provides immense balance to the side. He has himself talked about how he has had the highest workload on the team.
“As an all-rounder, my workload is twice or thrice as anyone else. When a batter in the team goes and bats and finishes his batting and is heading home, I’ll still be bowling after that. So for me, all the managing, all the pushing, and everything happens during the sessions or my training or my pre-camp season,” Hardik said on Star Sports' Follow the Blues.
He scored a brilliant 87 (90) in the washed-out match against Pakistan in the group stage and picked up a wicket each in the other three games. Against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, the right-arm seamer changed the game before even taking a wicket.
He bowled a four-over spell between overs 35-41 where his intense seam movement and consistent pace of 140kph slowed down Sri Lanka's potential match-winning partnership between Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage.
The latter was forced to attack Ravindra Jadeja at the other end and lost his wicket, leading to a collapse as India won the match.
Who has replaced Hardik Pandya in India's playing 11 vs Bangladesh?
India have brought in Suryakumar Yadav for Hardik Pandya's finishing role in the team.
Suryakumar, the top-ranked T20I batter, has scored just over 500 runs in 26 matches at an average of 24.33 in ODIs. But pundits have opined that India are likely sticking with him because of the game-changing skills he has shown in T20s.
It will be interesting to see who chips in to share the load of his bowling.