Watch: Hardik Pandya cops painful blow on jaw, escapes serious injury in 1st T20I

India allrounder Hardik Pandya was fortunate to avoid sustaining a serious injury while fielding during the first India vs Bangladesh T20I in Gwalior.

Last year, the allrounder was sidelined for months after suffering an injury during the same fixture. Hardik Pandya had ended up suffering an ankle injury while trying to stop a ball in his follow-through during the ODI World Cup clash against Bangladesh. The injury had ruled him out of the remainder of the World Cup and kept him on the sidelines for months.

Fortunately, on this occasion, he managed to avoid suffering any serious injury although the blow was quite painful. The incident took place in the very first over of the game when Arshdeep Singh was bowling to Parvez Hossain Emon.

The Bangladesh opener drove the ball towards mid-on where Hardik Pandya moved across and got down on one knee to stop the ball. However, he fumbled as the ball hit his palms before bouncing awkwardly and hitting him on his jaw.

Hardik Pandya's reaction made it clear that he was in pain but he still managed to run after the ball although his misfield allowed the Bangladesh openers to take a single.

Watch as Hardik Pandya cops the blow on his jaw:

pic.twitter.com/OugRVM8dr2

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Talking about the game, Bangladesh were on 40/3 in the seventh over at the time of writing this report. Arshdeep gave India the first breakthrough in the very first over by dismissing Litton Das for 4. In his next over, the left-arm pacer struck again to dismiss the other Bangladesh opener, Emon for 8.

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy then steadied the ship with a 26-run stand although they could not bat their team to a strong position. Varun Chakravarthy, playing his first T20I since 2021, broke the stand by dismissing Hridoy for 12.

Earlier, India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to field first. India have handed debuts to two players - Mayank Yadav and Nitish Reddy. Mayank has started his international career on a brilliant note by bowling a maiden over.