Hardik Pandya may not be seen in Tests for long: Aakash Chopra 

One of the big names missing from India’s Test squad announced for the long tour of the UK on Friday (May 7) was that of all-rounder Hardik Pandya. 

Even though the flamboyant cricketer was part of the set up for the home series in February-March, he hasn’t been retained for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and also the five-Test series versus England. 

Hardik Pandya hasn’t played a Test match for India since August 2018, with a longstanding back problem and surgery holding him back and putting him out of the reckoning in the longest version. 

Hardik Pandya last played a Test match for India in August 2018.

Given that Hardik is yet to resume bowling on a regular basis since making a comeback to the top-level game in November last year, the selectors were presumably wary of picking him for the rigours of Test cricket on the difficult tour of England. 

Hardik Pandya may not be seen in Tests for long: Aakash Chopra

And former Test cricketer Aakash Chopra reckons, if the injury issue persists, it’ll be long before Hardik Pandya is seen playing in the Test whites for India again. 

“If there’s one place where he should play Test cricket it’s England or South Africa. These are the places where Hardik Pandya the medium-pacer is required,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“It’s fine if he’s not there in the WTC final squad but his name is also not there even for the five Tests against England, which makes it clear that Hardik Pandya may not be seen in Test cricket for a long while.”

Chopra feels the Chetan Sharma led senior Indian men’s selection panel has made an informal statement regarding Hardik Pandya’s fate as Test cricketer and they may not consider him for the longer version any time soon. 

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“Bowling is an issue (with Pandya). Even captain (Virat Kohli) said a while back we are managing his workload. Next day, Pandya said he cannot bowl. The statement is clear that he is not being considered for Test squad,” he added. 

Hardik Pandya has played 11 Tests for India with 532 runs at an average of 31.29 and also 17 wickets at 31.05 per piece. Making his debut in the Test whites back in July 2017, Hardik produced stand-out performances in places like Centurion and Trent Bridge, scoring a fighting 90-odd against South Africa and taking a five-fer against England.