Baroda, Nov 7 (IANS) Hardik Pandya remained absent as Baroda announced their squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s premier domestic T20 tournament.
Hardik has been out of action due to a series of injuries ever since IPL 2026, and his absence now extends to the SMAT, which begins on November 14. Hardik’s brother, Krunal Pandya, will be leading the 15-man Baroda side, which has the likes of other prominent players such as Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Hooda and Rasikh Salam.
Hardik has been out of action due to a series of injuries ever since IPL 2026, and his absence now extends to the SMAT, which begins on November 14. Hardik’s brother, Krunal Pandya, will be leading the 15-man Baroda side, which has the likes of other prominent players such as Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Hooda and Rasikh Salam.
Hardik has spent a large amount of his time at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru since suffering back spasms during the IPL. He last played on May 24 in the IPL, while his last match for India was during a T20I series against New Zealand at home right before the Indian cash-rich league.
The all-rounder was recently named in India A’s squad for the one-day series against Australia A in October, but was pulled out due to a fresh shin injury.
Recently, India ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill spoke about Hardik’s potential return to the national setup, stating that the all-rounder will be playing domestic cricket first.
“Whenever Hardik bhai comes back, No. 7-8 will also be taken care of. Happy with the batting group leading up to the ODI World Cup. He (Hardik) is a great all-rounder. Not many players in the world have his skill set. As a bowler, you can use him in the different facets of the game. He can bowl with the new ball and the old ball.
“We have had multiple conversations. He is unfortunate with his injuries. He hasn’t played since the IPL. Hopefully, he will come back soon. He will play some domestic cricket. And hopefully we will get him back in the Indian team soon,” Gill had said before the start of India’s ongoing five-match ODI series against New Zealand.
Speaking on the all-rounder, India head coach Gautam Gambhir called him and Jasprit Bumrah “extremely important” but wanted the players in the team in the build-up to the ODI World Cup 2027.
“Whether it’s Hardik, whether it’s Jasprit Bumrah, they are going to be extremely important for us in (southern) Africa,” Gambhir said in an interview on JioHotstar. “Very few teams have players (like Hardik) who can bowl ten overs and give you runs from No. 6 or No. 7, that too with such impact. So the focus for us – especially for Hardik, who needs game time as well; he hasn’t played a lot of cricket since the IPL – if we talk about 50-over cricket, if we want to play him, he might be short of cricket.
“If he plays a little bit of T20 cricket and then gets to one-day cricket, because game time going into the World Cup is going to be extremely, extremely important. You can’t go to the World Cup half-cooked. So you must have enough game time and your rhythm should be good enough, because there are no ifs and buts when it comes to a World Cup. There are no chances to make mistakes.
The SMAT final will take place on December 6, and the India-Sri Lanka ODI series begins on December 13. The T20Is will start on December 22, and it remains to be seen whether Hardik will be available for that assignment.
Baroda squad for SMAT:
Krunal Pandya (C), Atit Sheth (VC), Deepak Hooda, Shivalik Sharma, Shashwat Rawat, Amit Passi (WK), Jitesh Sharma (WK), Bhanu Pania, Mahesh Pithiya, Parikshit Patidar, Hemant Punde, Raj Limbani, Rasik Dar, Dhruv B. Patel, Safvan Patel
Standby Players: Priyanshu Moliya and Chintal Gandhi
–IANS
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