Hardik Pandya returns to India squad for ODIs against South Africa
Hardik has been in devastating form since returning to competitive cricket
Mumbai: Allrounder Hardik Pandya, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and opener Shikhar Dhawan returned to the 50-over fold as India named a 15-member squad for their upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa starting this month.
As reported earlier, fit-again Hardik made his comeback into the Indian team for the home series against the Proteas with Bhuvneshwar also getting back after a hernia operation that kept him out since December 2019.
Hardik underwent a surgery after suffering a lower-back injury five months ago while Dhawan suffered a shoulder injury in an ODI series against Australia at home.
Hardik has been in devastating form since returning to competitive cricket in the DY Patil T20 tournament, where he hit 158 off 55 balls the other day.
Post his surgery, Hardik had initially hired the services of Delhi Capitals trainer Rajnikanth Sivagnanam to undergo rehab with Team India physio Yogesh Parmar keeping an eye on his progress post his back surgery in October.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was kept out of the mix with the limited overs vice-captain still recovering from a calf injury he suffered during the fifth T20I of the New Zealand tour at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Kedar Jadhav was also dropped from the squad.
India, led by Virat Kohli, will take on South Africa in the first ODI in Dharamshala on March 12 followed by the second one in Lucknow on March 15. The third and final match will be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 18.
India's ODI squad:
Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C), K.L. Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.