The BCCI on Friday announced the ODI squad for the tour of New Zealand, and Hardik Pandya isn’t part of it. He hasn’t been part of any India squad all summer, and with the ODI World Cup a year away, there is no update on when he will play next.
Two former India all-rounders, Robin Singh and Madan Lal, were asked what the team should do. Robin said Hardik can’t be replaced, so India should keep their fingers crossed and hope he gets fit. Lal, on the other hand, feels India can’t afford to plan around one player, and should trust Nitish Kumar Reddy in the role.
Hardik suffered back spasms at the end of May, during IPL 2026. He spent much of the time recovering at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, but a leg strain during the process ruled him out of the white-ball series against Afghanistan in June, followed by the tour of England the next month.
The 33-year-old was set to return to competitive cricket in early October, after being named for the India A one-dayers, subject to clearance. The series was meant to test whether he could bowl 10 overs, and so whether he could return for the ODIs in New Zealand, which start on November 4. Last month, he suffered a second injury during his rehab, a shin injury this time.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir was blunt on the condition for his return: “If he cannot bowl ten overs, we don’t want to push him into international cricket.” In ODIs, that is his primary job, for India needs the whole package: the batter, the fielder and the bowler.
ICC tournaments have shown what Hardik’s balance does for the line-up. India learned the cost of picking him as a specialist batter at the 2021 T20 World Cup, when a chronic back issue stopped him from bowling. A year later, back to full fitness, he made crucial contributions in the run to the semi-final in Australia. An ankle injury midway through the 2023 ODI World Cup upset India’s balance, and the lack of batting depth showed in the final loss to Australia. Fit again, he was an architect of India’s back-to-back T20 World Cup wins in 2024 and 2026. In between, in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai, he stepped up as a new-ball bowler in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, adding to his resume.
The numbers back it. In an ODI career of a decade, the Baroda all-rounder has scored 1,904 runs in 94 matches, with 11 fifties, and taken 91 wickets. In T20Is, he has played 138 matches, taken 114 wickets at 8.34 runs an over, and scored 2,288 runs at a strike rate of almost 145.91.
Robin, who worked with Hardik during his Mumbai Indians days, does not pretend to know his fitness. “It would be wrong of me to even make an assessment,” he told Hindustan Times on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi T10 League. But he is clear on what India miss without him.
“With his absence, you lose a batsman and a bowler, plus he’s a very good fielder,” he said. “He can open the bowling, he can bowl in the death. He can bat at almost most numbers, he’d finish a game.”
Where India have lacked each time is a back-up for an injury-prone Hardik. The problem is back again, with no date for his return. The selectors and the coaches have backed Nitish in ODIs, the format that matters more now, while Shivam Dube has been the option in T20Is. Robin argues none is at Hardik’s level.
“By now, if they were really ready, people would have actually not been looking at Hardik so much,” said the former India all-rounder, who has 137 international caps. “You can’t just replace Hardik, it’s not possible. These are talents that you have to mould. Hardik didn’t just become good. He came good over time.”
His verdict: “Hardik is still your number one all-rounder without a doubt.”
Lal’s answer is the reverse. He does not want to wait for a fitness update. He wants India to use the time to back the option in hand. “You have Nitish Kumar Reddy,” he told HT. “Give him as many matches as possible, make him bowl as much as possible. He is also a good all-rounder. He is as good as anybody else.”
The 1983 World Cup winner is not unkind to Hardik. “If Hardik Pandya comes back in time for the World Cup, that is fine,” Madan said. “But it is not like Hardik will return and win us the World Cup.”
His reasoning sides with what is best for the team. “You cannot depend only on one player,” he said. “A team does not run on the strength of one player alone.”
He isn’t the only one. Right after news of Hardik’s shin injury broke, Irfan Pathan sounded the alarm for India.
“It is unfortunate for any player that Hardik is getting injured without playing,” he had told Star Sports during the ODI series against the West Indies. “You play, get injured, and then get injured again during rehab. He is ruled out of the India A series as well, and this will not give the management and selectors confidence.”
He drew a line between two kinds of injury. “It is one thing to get injured if you keep playing and your workload increases,” Pathan said.
And unlike Robin, and like Madan, he chose to believe in Nitish.
“Whenever the chance is there, it is important for the management to develop two all-rounders,” Pathan added. “That is why you will see that Nitish will be backed. His responsibility is now to perform and stay fit. We have seen his graph going upwards. His pace has gone up, and he has worked on his bowling.”
Gambhir’s views are similar. After the Afghanistan T20Is in September, he said he isn’t willing to push Hardik back until he has proved his match fitness, and sees this as an opportunity for Nitish. The head coach knows the value of fast-bowling all-rounders, especially with South Africa among the hosts of the next ODI World Cup. “Once Hardik comes back, it’s going to be good. Sometimes we could even go on to play both of them in the playing XI,” he had said.
The case for Nitish, and the gap
Nitish has not had as many chances as Hardik. He made his ODI debut last year and has played eight ODIs, four of them this summer, against Afghanistan and the West Indies. He has scored 109 runs and taken three wickets. Ryan ten Doeschate, who quit as India’s assistant coach in July, called him the “natural successor or backup” to Hardik. Madan and Pathan both want him to keep bowling to build the case, and Pathan said his pace is up.
There is also Dube. He was brought into the line-up on the England tour but made little impact, with two wickets and a golden duck in Cardiff. In all, he has played six ODIs, scoring 43 runs and taking three wickets. Madan isn’t convinced. “Dube is a batting all-rounder. He can bowl only 2-3 overs, and he is hittable,” he said.
The 75-year-old’s larger point is about the combination, with South Africa’s conditions in mind. India’s balance is “built around three fast bowlers and an all-rounder and one spinner”, he said, because it is hard to play two spinners there. To win the World Cup, “you need top-class fast bowlers”, and the all-rounder comes after them, not in place of them.
So the all-rounder has to do what Lal asks of him: “bowl ten overs, score 25 or 40 runs, and build a partnership.” That is the job Hardik has done, and the onus is now on Nitish, who is in the ODI squad for New Zealand. The five games, from November 4, will show how close he is to doing it.