India vs South Africa: Rehabilitation and setbacks became a mental challenge, reveals Hardik Pandya

With India-South Africa series, ace Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya would be making his comeback to the cricket field in the international circuit after remaining sidelined due to a lower back injury for quite a few months. Hardik, who displayed scintillating form in the recently concluded DY Patil T20 Cup, where the flamboyant all-rounder smashed a couple of blistering centuries to take the cricketing circuit by storm. After proving his fitness in the T20 tournament, Hardik was named in the Indian squad for the three-match ODI series against South Africa starting from March 12 in Dharamsala.

Hardik was supposed to make his comeback in India 'A' tour of New Zealand, where the right-handed all-rounder was named in the squad, however, he failed the fitness test and Vijay Shankar was sent as a replacement. Now, Hardik has revealed that it was a mental challenge for him to come back to full fitness due to the number of injuries and setbacks he was having before and after the ICC World Cup 2019.

Hardik said that he missed the dressing room atmosphere while he was out injured in the last six months while adding the feeling of playing for the country and donning the Team India jersey is unmatchable. However, the 26-year-old all-rounder said that he is glad to overcome the setbacks and is now gearing up for hitting the right chords for Team India, on the cricket field.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"I missed this atmosphere the most in these last six months, playing for the country and the feeling you get wearing the team’s colours,” Hardik told teammate Yuzvendra Chahal in an interview posted on BCCI's official website.

"A mental challenge and there were a lot of setbacks"

“That had become a mental challenge and there were a lot of setbacks. I was trying to get back to full fitness quickly but that did not work out and a lot of mental pressure came at the time. But touchwood, everything went fine, the rehabilitation went well and a lot of people helped me,” he added.

Hardik's form in DY Patil T20 Cup was surreal. The flamboyant all-rounder smoked sixes for fun and piled misery on the opposition bowlers. For the ace all-rounder, going back to the field and practice in match situation was important to regain confidence. However, Hardik joked that he never thought of hitting 20 sixes in an innings while adding he enjoyed batting in the tournament.

"It was important. I had not played anything for six and a half months. I wanted to make an international comeback so it was very important for my confidence. No matter how much you practice, the match situation is always different," said Pandya when asked about DY Patil Cup performance."

“So I just kept on playing, my confidence kept improving and the sixes were coming off well. I thought if they are coming off well, why should I stop and I kept going. But I never thought that I want to hit 20 sixes in an innings,” he added.

Hardik's fitness and form will be crucial to Team India's hopes of lifting the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 which is scheduled to be held in Australia in October 2020.