New Delhi: Hardik Pandya’s return has been hit with another delay as the India all-rounder is set to miss the one-dayers against Australia A due to a fresh injury setback.
Hardik, who was named in the India A squad for the three one-dayers from October 6, subject to fitness clearance, has suffered a shin issue and has been asked to rest and avoid physical activity, IANS has learnt.
“Yes, Hardik has suffered another injury setback. After the leg niggle, now a shin issue has cropped up, which has complicated things regarding his return to competitive cricketing action. He’s definitely putting in the hard yards to get back to playing again, but a clearer picture of his recovery timeline will come in the coming weeks.
“For now, he’s been advised complete rest and to not do any kind of serious physical activity,” said a source familiar with the matter to IANS Saturday.
This also puts him in doubt for the New Zealand tour, where India will be playing five T20Is and as many ODIs, apart from the two Tests, although Hardik does not play in Tests anymore.
Hardik has been on the mend since IPL 2026, when he missed a part of Mumbai Indians’ season. He has been at the BCCI CoE since May after suffering back spasms during the IPL. He has not played any competitive cricket since IPL 2026.
The all-rounder picked up a leg strain at the CoE in the build-up to the ODI series against Afghanistan and subsequently missed that series as well. He has not played an ODI since the 2025 Champions Trophy win and the T20Is since the T20 World Cup 2026 win.
Recently, India head coach Gautam Gambhir had stated that Hardik was not fit enough to bowl his full quota of 10 overs in ODI cricket and claimed that he would not be rushed back into the international arena.
As Hardik was not available for the West Indies series, India brought in seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy from the Asian Games in Japan and slotted him into the white-ball games against the Windies, starting with the three-match ODI series in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27.
“First of all, from Nitish’s point of view, it’s actually a great thing that he’s been withdrawn from a T20 format and he’ll get game time against the West Indies as well. We know how important seam-bowling all-rounders will be probably in a year’s time when we go to South Africa and Namibia.
“Once Hardik comes back, obviously it’s going to be good. Sometimes we could even go on to play both of them in the playing 11. But again, Hardik at the moment, yes, he cannot bowl 10 overs, and he hasn’t played a lot of cricket since the IPL. So we don’t want to push him into international cricket because international cricket can be extremely tough on your body as well.
“So if he plays those, that India A series, obviously he’ll get some game time as well, and that was the clear message to him that if he can play that A series and then if everything goes well, he can come back and be part of the T20s and the one-day squad as well. In the meantime, Nitish will get more game time as well because he hasn’t played enough cricket since the IPL either.” Gambhir said in the post-match press conference after India wrapped up the 3-0 T20I series win over Afghanistan with a thumping 127-run win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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