Hardik Pandya returns to professional cricket ahead of IPL 2024 in this tournament

Hardik Pandya, on Monday (February 26), made his much-awaited return to action in competitive cricket. The India allrounder had not played a competitive game since suffering an ankle injury during the ODI World Cup last year. He suffered an injury during the game against Bangladesh on October 19.

The allrounder ended up twisting his ankle while trying to stop a shot with his foot during his follow-through in his very first over of the game. While he did not take any further part in the game, he was expected to recover for the latter part of the World Cup. However, Hardik Pandya was eventually ruled out of the marquee event and is yet to play for Team India.

After being on the sidelines for more than four months, Hardik Pandya finally returned to competitive cricket on Monday in the ongoing DY Patil T20 tournament. He is leading the Reliance 1 team in the competition. Reliance 1 opened their campaign against Bharat Petroleum at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Cricket Ground in Navi Mumbai.

Hardik Pandya returns to cricket with Reliance 1 for DY Patil. pic.twitter.com/QDBnP1Zk63

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 26, 2024

Hardik Pandya has played in the competition in the past as well and would be hoping to hit the ground running on his return. Meanwhile, veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik is also reportedly set to ply his trade in the DY Patil T20 competition. As per reports, he will take a break from commentary duties and play in the tournament to prepare for IPL 2024.

Hardik Pandya to lead Mumbai Indians:

Hardik Pandya will be leading Mumbai Indians in the upcoming IPL season, scheduled to begin on March 22. He has replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the team. Rohit has led the team since 2013 and guided them to a record five IPL titles.

The all-rounder plied his trade for Gujarat Titans in the last two seasons of the IPL and did a brilliant job as a captain. In 2022, he led the team to the IPL title before guiding them to the final in the last IPL season. Later, he secured a return to Mumbai Indians through a trade deal before being appointed the captain.

“We saw a window period to get Hardik back as a player,” Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher said earlier this month. “He is a Mumbai Indians boy as well. He’s gone over to another franchise, he won his first year as captain, came runner-up in his second year. There’s obviously some very good leadership skills as well.”