NEW DELHI: India’s premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya is set to return to competitive cricket later this month, featuring for his state side Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Pandya is getting close to match fitness at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru and if everything stays on track, he is set to feature as early as the first game of the tournament. It is understood that even in the worst-case scenario, he should be back on the park by the team’s second fixture.
The domestic T20 tournament gets underway on November 26 with Baroda playing their games in Hyderabad.It is further learnt that there will be no break for Pandya and he will straight to Hyderabad after getting Return to Play (RTP) from the CoE. India’s three-match ODI series versus South Africa gets underway on November 30 and Pandya could well play at least one competitive fixture before wearing the India jersey again.The 32-year-old has been grinding in Bengaluru for the last few weeks and is very close to match fitness after injuring his left quadricep during the Asia Cup fixture versus Sri Lanka. The injury forced him to miss the final against the arch-rivals Pakistan and he has been away from competitive cricket since then. He missed the ODIs and T20Is series in Australia but is on track to feature in the white-ball fixtures against the visiting Proteas.
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India will play the three ODIs in Ranchi, Raipur and Visakhapatnam on November 30, December 3 and December 6, respectively. The focus will then shift to the five T20Is which get underway on December 9 in Cuttack.
