Hardik Pandya has completed his domestic warm-up and will join the Indian squad in Cuttack on December 6 for the T20I
series against South Africa. After recovering from injury, Pandya showed promising form with both bat and ball in two
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches.
Hardik Pandya last played for India in the Asia Cup fixture vs Sri Lanka.
New Delhi: India premier white-ball all-rounder Hardik Pandya is done with his domestic warm-up and is all set to join
the Indian cricket team in Cuttack on December 6, the day entire squad will assemble for the five-T20I series vs South
Africa. After getting clearance from BCCI CoE, Pandya featured in two Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy games for Baroda vs Punjab
on December 2 and Gujarat on December 4. As TimesofIndia.com had earlier reported, he was scheduled to play the third
game - December 6 fixture vs Haryana - but there has been a later alteration to that plan and he will be linking up with
Suryakumar Yadav-led squad on the same day. Some players are expected to land in Cuttack a day before - on December 5 -
the official joining date and Pandya could well be one of them. The final travel arrangements are yet to be done.
Inside details of Shubman Gill's rehab at BCCI CoE, set to return for SA T20Is
After staying away from cricket due to his quadricep injury, Pandya had decent outings in the two fixtures with both bat
and ball. The first game was an ordinary outing with the ball as he picked just one wicket and leaked 52 runs in four
overs vs Punjab but was on fire with the bat. The right-hander smashed 77 off 42 balls, including four sixes, to help
his side chase down 223 with five deliveries to spare. In his final SMAT appearance vs Gujarat, he was precise with the
ball during his spell of 1/16. As far as batting was concerned, there wasn't much to be done in the 74-run chase and he
could contribute only 10 off six balls in the modest chase. India squad for T20I series against SA: Suryakumar Yadav
(C), Shubman Gill (VC)*, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sanju
Samson (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar Note: *
Subject to fitness clearance from BCCI COE.