IND vs ENG T20Is | Hope Hardik is ready to do what team expects from him: Rohit Sharma

Hardik Pandya has been an invaluable asset for India in white-ball cricket ever since he made his debut in 2016. He has not only been sensational with his big-hitting ability with the bat but he has been equally effective as a bowler as well.

However, he hasn’t been bowling much ever since he underwent back surgery in 2019. He bowled during the second ODI against Australia last year but he has mainly played as a batsman in all matches, including IPL 2020.

Rohit Sharma, though, confirmed that Hardik looks good enough to bowl in the forthcoming T20I series against England.

“Of course, he has been an integral part of the squad. He has been working on his bowling and batting, trying to sharpen that skill. It’s been a good month and a half that he’s been with the team to get ready for this limited-overs series,” Rohit said in a virtual media conference ahead of the first T20I on Friday.

“He’s done pretty much everything, so it seems that time has come for him to get ready and start doing what he does. He’s worked hard on his bowling and batting in these last few weeks. I hope he’s ready to do what the team expects from him,” he added.

Rohit also talked about Rishabh Pant’s return to the Indian white-ball squad and he thinks that the 23-year-old will carry his Test form into this T20I series successfully.

“He can go from strength to strength. There is no looking back for him. So far, he has done exceptionally well from Australia to the home series against England recently,” Rohit said.

“The good thing about his game right now is he is starting to understand the game situation.

“He can go from strength to strength from here. He has looked very good in keeping, approach or batting in all three departments,” he added.

India Squad for the T20I series vs England

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Y Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, W Sundar, R Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep, Shardul Thakur.