New Delhi: India’s white-ball all-rounder Hardik Pandya will exit the BCCI Center of Excellence (CoE) today (November 29) after getting the Return to Play (RTP) clearance. He had spent 42 days at the facility in Bengaluru. The 32-year-old is now set to join Krunal Pandya-led Baroda squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Hyderabad and will play three fixtures on December 2, 4 and 6, respectively.As TimesofIndia.com had first reported, Hardik checked into CoE on October 14 for left quadricep injury assessment and has been training non-stop to get ready for the upcoming white-ball assignments. He had a short break – around Diwali – during the rehabilitation but underwent rigorous training sessions for 42 days under the watch of the specialists.
The initial plan for Hardik was to be ready in time for the ODIs vs South Africa starting November 30 but that was pushed back as the decision makers felt it would be ideal to ease him back into action with the shortest format.Pandya has been away from action since the Asia Cup fixture vs Sri Lanka in September this year and went on to miss the entire tour of Australia and the ODIs against South Africa. He continues to be a crucial player in the white-ball set-up and the management wants him to be ready for the T20 World Cup next year. The three T20 fixtures for Baroda will allow the all-rounder to get some crucial game time before joining the team for T20Is vs South Africa.The five-T20I series starts on December 9 in Cuttack and culminates with the final game in Ahmedabad on December 19.
