Hardik Pandya's chances of making it to India's squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 depend upon his bowling form and how regularly he bowls in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
As per The Indian Express, India's captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI's chief selector Ajit Agarkar met recently at the BCCI's headquarters in Mumbai.
They discussed India's potential composition for the marquee tournament and mutually agreed that the Mumbai Indians captain needs to bowl consistently in the IPL to stand a chance of getting selected for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean.
Hardik bowled in the first two games for Mumbai Indians (MI) with figures of 0/30 and 1/46 against Gujarat Titans (GT) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) but stayed away from his bowling mark in the two games that followed against Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals.
He bowled against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the last two games of Mumbai and finished with figures of 0/13 and 2/43.
Hardik has bagged just three wickets in the four games that he has bowled in the season thus far. The 30-year-old allrounder has been far from effective with the ball in the ongoing season and conceded runs at an alarming rate of 12 per over.
Hardik's batting form has not been very impressive either and he has been struggling to find his touch. He has aggregated 131 runs in six games at a strike rate of 145.55.
Hardik has copped plenty of criticism for his leadership tactics in IPL 2024. The Mumbai captain was criticised heavily by Sunil Gavaskar and Kevin Pietersen after the 20-run loss against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on April 14.
Pietersen slammed Hardik for not slowing the tempo of the game down by introducing his spinners when the CSK batters were finding runs freely in the middle.
