India suffered a major setback with star all-rounder Hardik Pandya ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, owing to an ankle injury. He hurt his ankle while attempting to stop the ball during the clash against Bangladesh in Pune. Notably, he has missed all matches since then and before India’s encounter against South Africa, pacer Prasidh Krishna has been added to the squad as the all-rounder’s replacement.
“As it has been said earlier, Pandya doesn’t have any fracture and only had a minor tear. He had resumed training but suddenly considerable amount of swelling developed in left ankle region and he wouldn’t have been fit to bowl. This is not some injury which could be managed with injections. Considerable swelling resurfaced on Thursday and unless it subsides, he can’t do skills training for some more time,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by HT.
In Hardik’s absence, India resorted to specialist players, and they currently have a stable starting lineup. Throughout the last few games, Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar Yadav have become a formidable combination, replacing all-arounders Shardul Thakur and Hardik. It appears like team India made a wise choice in adding Prasidh as a backup to the prolific pace trio of Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah. Moreover, with Shardul Thakur and R Ashwin in the squad, it appears that the selectors had no interest in bringing in an all-round player.
