Vijay Hazare Trophy- Hardik Pandya gets dismissed cheaply on his 50-over format return
(Photo Source – Twitter/X)
Hardik Pandya played a 50-over game after a hiatus of 14 months. He was part of the Baroda team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT 2024-25) game against Bengal on Saturday, December 28. Notably, the game was held at the Gymkhana Ground, in Hyderabad. He last played a 50-over game during the World Cup 2023 fixture against Bangladesh and got injured during the match. He had to discontinue participating in the tournament and only played T20Is after recuperating from an ankle injury.
Speaking of the star Indian all rounder’s performance, after his comeback to the 50-over format, it was a forgettable one. The all-rounder scored just one run and returned to the pavilion. He scored one run off the first ball he faced but got dismissed on the very next delivery after being caught by Sudip Kumar Gharami off Pradipta Parmanik’s bowling.
It is worth noting that, Hardik Pandya was not named in the initial squad list of Baroda and missed a couple of games due to personal reasons. His return however was not memorable. The tournament will be crucial for the 31-year-old as he is expected to feature for the Indian team in the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 scheduled to commence in February 2025.
Hardik impresses with bat in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
After the successful outing in the T20 World Cup 2024, he had a chance to feature in the ODIs for Men in Blue, but the right-handed batter opted out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka owing to personal reasons. He has played a total of 86 ODIs for the Indian team and has been their premier all-rounder for a while now.
Also Read: Pandya becomes fourth most trending Indian celebrity on Google in 2024
Despite him being away from the 50-over format, Hardik impressed everyone with his batting for Baroda in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2024). He scored 246 runs with a strike rate of 193.70. Speaking of his hard-hitting prowess, he smashed 17 fours and 20 sixes in the tournament.