Hardik Pandya back from injury with IPL and T20 World Cup inching closer, Ishan Kishan to follow suit

For the first time since his last appearance at the 2023 ODI World Cup, Hardik Pandya marked his return back to professional cricket as he took the field for Reliance 1 in the 18th edition of D Y Patil T20 Cup 2024 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

It was a triumphant return for the all-rounder, who snapped a couple of wickets – conceding 22 runs – to help his side restrict BPCL to 126 in 18.3 overs after opting to field. With the bat then, Pandya held himself lower down the order and came in to bat after Reliance 1 had slipped to 113/8 and partnered up with Piyush Chawla to see through a two-wicket win.

Also slated to mark his return back to professional cricket in the ongoing tournament is Ishan Kishan, who will take the field for the Reserve Bank of India against Route Mobile on Tuesday.

Pandya has been out of action since he sustained an ankle injury while bowling during India’s World Cup league stage game against Bangladesh last October. Since then, the all-rounder has also made headlines for his return to his former franchise Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans – the team he led to an IPL title in their first season back in 2022.

MI have also announced that come IPL 2024, Pandya will take over the captaincy from their long time skipper Rohit Sharma, who led the franchise to all five of their league titles. Coincidentally, Pandya’s first start as Mumbai Indians’ captain is likely to be against Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad – as the two teams face each other in their first game in the upcoming season.

Since 2022, Pandya’s captaincy credentials have also extended to the international arena. After India’s humbling by England in the T20 World Cup semifinal in Australia, in the absence of all-format captain Rohit Sharma, it was the all-rounder who took over the reigns in the shortest format for India. Leading many to speculate if he was also going to lead India in the World Cup in June.

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Those speculations were quashed by the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah earlier this month, who during a BCCI event in Rajkot said, “We may have lost the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. But we won hearts there by winning 10 matches in a row. I would like to say that I am confident that India will lift the 2024 T20 World Cup under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy at Barbados.”

Rohit had resumed the command in T20Is in January for the three-match series against Afghanistan, leading the side to a clean sweep in what was their last bilateral series ahead of the world tournament this summer.

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