Hardik out as Prasidh comes in as pace backup

The all-rounder who injured his ankle during the game against Bangladesh will not take part in the tournament

Hardik Pandya, center, walks off the field after sustaining an injury during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh.(Photo | AP)

KOLKATA: With the World Cup scheduled at home, India obviously were touted as favourites in the build-up to the tournament. They lived up to their billing as Rohit and Co. took off smoothly against Australia before making light work of Afghanistan and Pakistan in their next two games. Next up were Bangladesh and they met the same fate but the match seemed to have robbed India of their fast-bowling all-rounder, Hardik Pandya.

He might not have stolen the limelight during the first three encounters but quietly contributed to the team's cause by picking a wicket in their opener and then claiming two scalps apiece in the next couple of matches. The Men in Blue missed his services in the next three matches but kept their winning record intact. Despite their unbeaten run, the hosts were desperately hoping Hardik, the balancing factor who can bowl with pace and bat effectively at the middle-order, gets fit for the business end of the tournament. 

Unfortunately, that didn't happen as the 30-year-old all-rounder was on Saturday ruled out of the tournament. "The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 has approved Prasidh Krishna as a replacement for Hardik Pandya in the India squad. Krishna, who has played 17 ODIs, was named as a replacement after Pandya was ruled out of the tournament, failing to recover from an injury to his left ankle during the league match against Bangladesh on 19 October," reads a statement issued by the ICC.

Usually, a team goes for like-for-like replacement when such a situation arises but such has been Hardik's stature that India apparently couldn't find a player to match his all-round skills. They instead opted for pacer Prasidh Krishna. How important Hardik is for India can be gauged by an answer given by South African captain Temba Bavuma on Saturday. "They obviously only have five bowlers, so they can, I guess, be put under pressure if one of their bowlers is not on their day," he said.

India head coach Rahul Dravid also agreed. "The fact is that we will not be in a position to have a proper sixth option. I mean, obviously, the sixth option is something that Hardik gave us. But you're right as well that we have been playing the last four games without the sixth bowling option. We also played a couple of games in the Australia series before the World Cup without the sixth option. We won two of our games, both in Mohali and in Indore, when we played only with five bowling options in those games as well."

Hardik was in ominous form during the Asia Cup picking up six wickets including three in the final while also scoring 87 with the bat against Pakistan in a league game. This year alone, he has scored 387 runs at an average of 34.81 and also picked up 21 wickets from 20 matches.

Dravid said that their choices were clear while making the decision. "I think it's a pretty obvious thought process. After Hardik has been injured, which he has been for the last two or three games, and then obviously didn't play a couple of the games in the Australia series as well. We have played with a combination which has been three fast bowlers and two spinners. And yeah, in our reserves, in the guys sitting outside in the 15, we had a backup for the spin. We had a backup for the batting, and we had a backup in the bowling all-round category. So, we did recognise that if this is a combination we're going to take, and if there is an issue of an illness, or a small niggle, or an injury, then we need to have a backup for that. It also allows us to play other combinations. It doesn't mean that we can't play other combinations. But if this is the one combination that we have gone with recently, then yeah, that is the one area which we possibly hadn't backed up with the injury to Hardik Pandya," he said