Former India T20 vice-captain Hardik Pandya has fuelled his Test return speculations by posting videos and images of him practising with the red ball. Pandya, who last played a Test match for India in September 2018 on the England tour, has had a struggle with injuries and hence has focussed on white-ball cricket for the last few years. However, since coming back from a long layoff, following the injury he suffered during the ODI World Cup last year, Pandya has looked the fittest and has gotten through the IPL, T20 World Cup and the Sri Lanka series unscathed.
"At it," Pandya wrote while sharing an image of himself with the red ball on his Instagram story. The all-rounder then followed it up with a couple of videos of him bowling with the red ball in training.
Last year in January-February, Hardik had brushed aside any hopes of a red-ball comeback in the near future when he was captaining the T20 side. "When I will be seen in whites? Let me be fully on blues first, then I will see about the whites," Hardik had said in one of the pressers. "I will come (back) when I feel (it's) the right time to play Test-match cricket," he said in another.
However, with the spotlight on the red-ball season this time around with players like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer among others playing in the Duleep Trophy, with Ranji approaching, Hardik might be eyeing a return to domestic red-ball at least.
India have missed a capable pace-bowling all-rounder in Tests in recent times, especially in the SENA countries. Shardul Thakur has ably filled in the role on the last few tours but if Hardik is indeed back in the red-ball picture, it is good news for the Indian team given the team is set to tour Australia, England and New Zealand in the next 18 months or so.
