New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the all-important World Test Championship (WTC) Final and also the subsequent five-match Test series against England. Hardik Pandya, Prithvi Shaw, and Bhvneshwar Kumar were the three important names that were missing from the 20-man "full strength" squad that India announced for the WTC Final.
Let's look at the team first: Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav.
As you can see, Hardik Pandya's name is missing from the list. As per sources close to TOI, it is believed that there are doubts regarding the bowling of Hardik Pandya. "It doesn't seem he is being able to sustain the load of bowling. He recovered from a back surgery, changed his action, but now it's his shoulder that is bothering him," said a source inside Indian team management to TOI. The Indian support staff monitor Pandya's bowling in February and March too, but he is unable to respond.
Time off for T20 World Cup preparation?
The Indian team management believes that Hardik Pandya is more of an asset in T20Is and thus they want to preserve I'm for the upcoming T20 World Cup. "Even Pandya realizes that he is vulnerable if he pushes himself with the ball. He is focusing a lot more on his batting. The team management understands that with the T20 World Cup coming later in the year, it's better to give him more time off," said the team India official.
Along with Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Prithvi Shaw were also surprise exits from the WTC squad.