World Cup winning former Indian captain Kapil Dev Key players of the Indian team before the World Cup 2023 Hardik Pandya Has expressed concern over the fitness of Kapil stressed on the importance of keeping all the key players in good physical condition for the tournament. ICC has recently announced the schedule of the upcoming ODI World Cup to be held in India from October to November. India’s first match will be against Australia on 8 October.
Many Indian players are injured
Just a week after the first match, the Indian team will clash against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India won their last ODI World Cup under MS Dhoni in 2011 when they co-hosted the tournament with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, this year India suffered a defeat against Australia in the final of the World Test Championship and is now battling injury concerns ahead of the all-important event.
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Jasprit Bumrah is out for nine months
India’s leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been out of action for more than nine months. Key middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are also recovering from injuries. Additionally, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant will not participate in the tournament due to his recovery from a serious road accident in December last year. Amid these injury issues, Kapil Dev highlighted another potential threat to the team in the form of Hardik Pandya.
Kapil Dev said this
Kapil said on ABP News, ‘Injuries are an integral part of every player’s life. I hope the situation will improve. I am always in fear of Hardik Pandya, he gets injured very quickly. If all these players are fit and fine, then India can become a compact team. He said that the World Cup comes after four years, so you have to be ready. We need practice for this, we need to play more ODIs.
Pandya is avoiding bowling
Pandya made a comeback from a back injury in the Indian Premier League last year and cemented his position in India’s white-ball teams. But he is not bowling fully even in T20Is. Hardik Pandya has been named the vice-captain for the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies in the Caribbean. He led India in the ODI against Australia earlier this year when Rohit Sharma was unavailable due to family commitments.
