Parthiv Patel shuts the door on Hardik Pandya's Test comeback

Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel has brought an end to the rumors of Hardik Pandya's potential Test comeback. Recently, Hardik Pandya was seen practicing with the red ball in the nets, sparking rumors of his return to Test cricket.

Hardik Pandya is a vital player for India in white-ball formats but it is not the same case for him in Test cricket. The star allrounder has missed several important matches in his career due to various injuries.

His recent injury was in the ODI World Cup 2023 when he got injured while fielding off his own bowling and was ruled out for several months. Since coming back from a back injury in IPL 2022, he has made himself available for ODIs and T20Is only.

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Parthiv Patel shuts the door on Hardik Pandya's potential Test comeback

But the recent video on social media speculated that he might play for Baroda in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. He last made a first-class appearance for Baroda way back in 2018.

But Parthiv Patel has put an end to such rumors and claimed that Pandya bowled with the red ball just because the white ball wasn't available. He even mentioned that Hardik's body won't allow him to bowl in the longest format of the game.

“I'm not looking at Hardik Pandya (in Tests). He was practising with the red ball only because the white ball wasn't available. I don't think his body allows four-day and five-day matches. He has to play at least one first-class game (before being considered for selection in Tests), which is very unlikely,” Parthiv said.

Hardik Pandya last played a Test match way back in 2018 against England at Southampton. Since then, constant injuries have forced him to stay away from the rigors of red-ball cricket.

Hardik Pandya has played 11 Tests in which he scored 532 runs at an average of 31.29 with 1 hundred and 4 fifties. The right-handed allrounder has picked up 17 wickets at an average of 31.05 which also included a five-wicket haul.

Parthiv Patel speaks on Yash Dayal

Parthiv Patel also believes that India has missed an opportunity to give a Test debut to Yash Dayal in the Kanpur Test against Bangladesh. He also added that India won't be in a position to experiment in the upcoming series against New Zealand and Dayal might not get a game to prove himself before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“The second Test was an opportunity for India to use Yash Dayal. And no, I'm not undermining Bangladesh, but if this Test match ends in a draw, it is very important to address that the next series will be against New Zealand, and then they won't be in a position to experiment,” Parthiv reckoned.

After the ongoing series against Bangladesh, India will play a three-match Test series against New Zealand at home. But the Men in Blue will face a stern Test in an away series against Australia later this year where they will play five Tests against the home team.