When Will Hardik Pandya To Make A Comeback? Here's A Massive Hint

image-loo5omllHardik Pandya's injury ruled him out of the World Cup (AP Photo)

Even as his ICC World Cup 2023 came to a premature end with an untimely ankle injury, India's stand-in T20I skipper Hardik Pandya cast his eyes on his next assignment at the helm of the shortest format side and set the stage alight for the marquee forthcoming tour of South Africa. 

Pandya, who was ruled out of the ongoing World Cup feeling disgruntled with an injury that sidelined them from the best part of India's elongated league stage campaign, could be back in time for the start of next month's challenging all-format trip to the land of Proteas. 

The 30-year-old featured in an exciting promo clip issued by Cricket South Africa's (CSA) Indian broadcaster Star Sports ahead of Team India's tour of 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 fixtures of the World Test Championship (WTC).

While the Test series forms an integral part of Team India's WTC 2023-25 campaign and offers Rohit Sharma's men the chance to clinch a maiden triumph in the rainbow nation, the limited-overs section gives India an opportunity to continue refining their T20I set-up ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup while entering a new ODI World Cup cycle. 


Hardik Pandya in Star Sports' promo for SA-IND T20Is 

From Pandya's perspective, the T20I series holds critical weightage after facing criticism as captain for India's disappointing 3-2 series loss in the Caribbean in August, regaining his best mojo in either department of the game. 

Notably, India are also scheduled to play Australia at home in a five-match series immediately after the World Cup from November 23 but the selectors are expected to rest all of the senior pros, including the skipper and key fast-bowling allrounder, who is likely to be given a break and extra time to recover from his injury. 

In all likelihood, Pandya's next assignment would be the tour opening three-match T20I series in South Africa from December 10 where fans can also expect a clearer picture of India's plans for the next T20 World Cup in the USA & Caribbean. 

For the Aussie series, the Ajit Agarkar-led side is reportedly set to pick a squad similar to the one that donned the gold medal proudly under Ruturaj Gaikwad at last month's Asian Games men's T20I in China.