Hardik Pandya, who had missed Mumbai Indians’ previous outing on the road against Delhi Capitals, returned to the training ground in Guwahati on Sunday night. The all-rounder was back in the nets ahead of MI’s Tuesday clash with Rajasthan Royals, giving the team a fresh boost on the injury front.
Quick facts
- Hardik Pandya missed MI’s earlier away match versus Delhi Capitals.
- He resumed training in Guwahati on Sunday night ahead of the game vs Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday.
- At the toss for MI’s match against Delhi Capitals, Suryakumar Yadav confirmed Hardik was “unwell”.
- MI made changes for that absence: Deepak Chahar and Corbin Bosch were included, while Trent Boult made way to keep the overseas quota at four.
- In training, Hardik worked on yorkers with guidance from Nitin Patel (physiotherapist), and Kieron Pollard monitored his batting.
- Hardik delivered a spell of three overs for figures of 1/39 and later hit an unbeaten 18 off 11 balls in MI’s season opener against Kolkata Knight Riders, a match MI won by six wickets.
In the Delhi Capitals fixture, Suryakumar Yadav captained the side and relayed at the toss that Hardik was unwell. To cover for his absence, MI brought in Deepak Chahar and Corbin Bosch, with Trent Boult departing the XI so that the number of overseas players remained at four.
Despite the earlier setback, Hardik’s body language in the session suggested he was comfortable. He appeared to be in good spirits during training and looked like a realistic option to return to the playing XI.
After the warm-up, Hardik began his work with the ball, bowling in an empty net while putting yorkers in practice. He also focused on pace and accuracy, and spoke with Nitin Patel, the franchise physiotherapist, while explaining that he had been sharpening his yorkers since the T20 World Cup earlier this year. Hardik’s message was simple: if the yorkers are landing, the other deliveries become easier.
Kieron Pollard, operating as batting coach, kept a close watch as Hardik moved from bowling to batting in the nets. The ball was finding the middle of the bat more frequently, and the off the bat was coming crisply—enough to earn encouraging reactions from Pollard as the session progressed.
Hardik then bowled three overs, finishing with figures of 1 for 39. He followed that up with batting work, scoring an unbeaten 18 off 11 deliveries in MI’s season opener against Kolkata Knight Riders, a match the franchise won by six wickets before going on to lose their second game to Delhi Capitals.
