T20 World Cup – Hardik Pandya ‘Won’t Bowl’: As expected, Hardik Pandya won’t bowl in the T20 World Cup for India. BCCI’s medical team took over Hardik’s reports from Mumbai Indians on Monday & immediately informed the board that Pandya is unlikely to be fit to bowl in the World Cup. This confirmation by the medical team prompted BCCI to make change in the Indian squad for T20 World Cup.
“It’s clear, he (Hardik Pandya) can’t bowl. He will purely play as a batsman in the World Cup. By the later stages of the World Cup he may recover & can bowl but for now it won’t be possible. We feel sorry for Axar Patel but for the sake of team balance he had to make way for Shardul”, confirmed one of the top BCCI official.
It’s final, ‘Hardik Pandya won’t bowl this World Cup’ confirms BCCI official
T20 WC India Squad – Hardik Pandya ‘Won’t Bowl’: The national selectors on Wednesday decided to add Shardul Thakur to the 15-man Indian team for the T20 World Cup at the expense of left-arm spinner Axar Patel.
But actually Axar lost his place in the team due to Hardik’s situation. Selectors had initially announced a squad which only had 3 pace bowlers i.e Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami & Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Selectors were of the view that Hardik will chip in as 4th pacer.
But with Hardik’s inability to bowl, selectors decided to replace Axar Patel & drafted Shardul Thakur in the squad.
Thakur’s big-hitting ability with the bat won him a place in the main team ahead of Deepak Chahar who remains a standby along with Axar and Shreyas Iyer.
”After a discussion with the team management has added Shardul Thakur to the main squad. All-rounder Axar Patel, who was part of the 15-member squad will now be on the list of standby players,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
BCCI in there official statement did not give any further reason given on why medium-pacer Thakur has replaced left-arm spinner Patel, who has performed decently till now for Delhi Capitals in the ongoing IPL.
Patel took 15 wickets in 12 games for Delhi, with an economy of 6.65. Thakur, meanwhile, has taken 18 wickets for the finalists Chennai Super Kings with an economy of 8.75.
T20 World Cup: It’s final, ‘Hardik Pandya won’t bowl this World Cup’ confirms BCCI official
T20 WC India Squad – India’s squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, R.Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami
Stand-by players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel
Hardik Pandya ‘Won’t Bowl’: The following cricketers will join the team bubble in Dubai and assist Team India in their preparations: Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Venkatesh Iyer, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K. Gowtham.
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