IPL 2021: Mumbai Indians Bowling Coach Gives Big Update On Hardik Pandya's Fitness & Comeback

Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya has not played a single match since the start of the second half of IPL 2021.

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Shane Bond gives big Update on Hardik Pandya's Fitness: Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma returned to the field in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday, but team's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was not picked in the Playing 11 for the second match in a row. Even after the match, MI captain Rohit did not give any update on Hardik's return. Finally, a big update on Hardik Pandya's return to MI has been shared by bowling coach Shane Bond. Let's find out when would MI's star all-rounder make a comeback to the field.

Hardik Pandya has been practising in the nets and is almost ready to make his comeback, said Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond. "We want to maintain the balance between the needs of our team and the India's T20 team. We hope that Hardik is ready to play the next match of IPL," he said.

Team India and MI have been taking great care of Hardik Pandya ever since he sustained a back injury in 2020, due to which he considerably reduced bowling during matches. While announcing the World Cup team, Chief Selector Chetan Sharma had expressed confidence that Hardik would be fully fit and would be able to bowl his four overs as needed. 

When Bond was asked if there were any instructions from the board to not let Hardik play, he said, "No such instructions were given. As a team, we also want to take care of our players. The players themselves are restless to play but we need to maintain a balance."

Hardik has not been seen playing any match ever since the white-ball series in Sri Lanka in July. Mumbai Indians, the winner of the last two IPL seasons, may need him to make it to the play-offs. Bond said, "If we hurriedly get him back on the pitch and he gets injured again, our chances of winning the tournament would be reduced. We need to play carefully this time in order to make it to the final stages of the tournament."