India all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s return date has been reportedly revealed. He had earlier missed India’s World Cup 2023 matches against New Zealand in Dharamsala and against England in Lucknow on Sunday after having incurred an ankle injury in Pune during the league-stage match against Bangladesh. If reports are believed to be true, Hardik is slated to miss the entirety of the league phase and only return in the knockout stage. Yet the news doesn’t come as a big blow to India.

A BCCI release post the match against Bangladesh had revealed that Hardik would miss the next game for India but will rejoin the squad in Lucknow. However, he failed to recover in time as the all-rounder continues to rehabilitate at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. According to Cricketnext, Hardik has shown significant improvement and has already begun with net sessions under the watchful eyes of the medical team at the NCA.

“Hardik Pandya has already had a couple of net sessions at the NCA, is under constant supervision of the BCCI medical team and looking good,” says a source told the website.

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Why India have little to worry over Hardik’s return

While the report failed to reveal the exact date of return, Team India is less likely to fret over his absence or rush him back into the XI after two sensational wins in the last two matches.

The biggest fear post Hardik’s absence was the the lack of balance in the XI, thus sparking a debate over the line-up against New Zealand and England on whether India should play an extra batter on a bowler. The team eventually made two changes – in a bid to compensate for Hardik’s batting abilities at No. 6, Suryakumar Yadav was picked, while Shardul Thakur was rested to make way for Mohammed Shami in a bid to have an able third seamer. While it still left India with only five bowling options, the brutal combination of Japsrit Bumrah with Shami saw the home team comprehensively beat the two 2019 finalists. In fact, Shami, who was rested throughout the opening four games, emerged as the standout bowler for India with nine wickets in the two matches which included a record five-wicket haul.

“See, no one wants to burden Hardik with travelling at this point. He is already in Bengaluru and could well rejoin the squad there itself. Whether he plays that game or not is too early to say but the Bengaluru link-up is very much on the cards because that game would mean no travel also,” informed the source to Cricketnext.

India are now left with just three more league games – versus Sri Lanka in Mumbai, versus South Africa in Kolkata, versus Netherlands in Bengaluru.