Hardik Pandya to skip Ranji trophy wants to focus on white-ball cricket

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be skipping the upcoming Ranji Trophy to solely concentrate and focus on the white ball Cricket. It has been quite a long since we saw Hardik Pandya playing for international cricket due to some injuries, operation, rehabilitation, and also or not getting selected. Hardik decided to make a comeback in a fit and more perfect all-rounder and hence, skipped the Ranji Trophy.

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Reasons why Hardik missed out on opportunities:

The 28-year-old remained on the sidelines since the 2021 T20 World Cup. He have to detach himself from cricket due to injuries, the recovery process, and unfortunately, he injured once again after recovering. Also, we all know Hardik Pandya as an all-rounder but when he started playing after recovering, he contributed to the team only as a batter. As a result, he had to receive and face a lot of flak for not bowling as well. Also, the last time Hardik played the red ball Cricket was December 2018. Different injuries became an obstacle for him especially in the longest format of cricket.

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Hardik Pandya will now be seen as the skipper of the Ahmedabad franchise in IPL 2022 after playing for Mumbai Indians for so long. He is all set to come back in competitive cricket in a new and maiden form, the full-time captain.

BCCI President Saurav Ganguly expected to see the all-rounder appearing in the Ranji Trophy. He said in an interview to PTI, "Hardik was injured and a break was given to him to completely recover, so that he can continue to serve Indian cricket for a long period of time. I believe I will see him play some Ranji Trophy to start with. I expect him to bowl a lot more overs and his body will get stronger."

Details of Ranji Trophy:

Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 at various stages and waves, the Ranji Trophy got postponed quite a few times. Now Ranji Trophy will take place in 2 phases. The first phase will begin on 10 February till 15 March. And the second phase will resume after the IPL from 30 May to 26 June.

Kedar Devdhar is the captain of the Baroda team. Also Hardik Pandya's brother Krunal Pandya is also present in the squad.

Members of Baroda Squad:

Kedar Dhevdhar, Vishnu Solanki, Pratyush Kumar, Shivalik Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Abhimanyusingh Rajput, Dhruv Patel, Mitesh Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Babasafikhan Pathan (wk), Atit Sheth, Bhargav Bhatt, Parth Kohli, Shashwat Rawat, Soyeb Sopariya, Kartik Kakade, Gurjindersingh Mann, Jyotsnil Singh, Ninad Rathwa, Akshay More