Hardik Pandya may take his retirement from Test cricket due to his back injuries. He plans to get back in form for white-ball cricket and IPL. He has told BCCI about his desire but an official announcement is to be made. Pandya played his last Test match in 2018 in England and since then he’s been missing in the game for Test match. He isn’t going to play for the upcoming South Africa Tour.
A top BCCI official in his statement said “Hardik Pandya has been struggling with injuries for a while and although he hasn’t informed us officially, he is considering Test retirement. It will help him keep his focus on white-ball cricket. He was anyway not in our plans for Tests. It will be a great loss for sure but we have to prepare backup,”
Pandya’s injured back has often caused him some difficulties to bowl. He had his back surgery last year and since then he couldn’t find a rhythm and hasn’t been persistent with his performance. In IPL 2020 and 2021, he wasn’t bowling. While he returned to bowling in the England series at home, but it wasn’t his best. In Sri Lanka , he also struggled while his performance, even in T20 World Cup he couldn’t perform well.
In the past one year he bowled for only 46 overs in ODI and T20Is but he hasn’t played any Test during this period.
Shardul Thakur has replaced Hardik Pandya in as a seam-bowling all-rounder. He made two hundreds during the England tour while playing an important match in Australia. Currently, Shardul Thakur is being groomed to be an all-rounder for Test cricket.
Hardik Pandya’s record in Test
Hardik Pandya played 11 Tests for India making 532 runs at an average of 31.29. He scored a century and four half-centuries with the highest score of 108 runs. He took 17 wickets in 11 matches with an average of 31.05 with the best figure of 5-28.
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