DY Patil T20 Tournament: Hardik Pandya on his return: “Happy to be back doing what I love”
At the DY Patil T20 event, Hardik Pandya made his competitive cricketing comeback after almost four months. On Monday, he captainally led Reliance 1 to victory over Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in Navi Mumbai, scoring 2-22.
The versatile player posted on social media, saying, “Happy to be back doing what I love.”
Pandya, who was most recently seen at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, began the bowling at the DY Patil Cricket Academy, taking wickets of Rahul Tripathi for a duck and Eknath Kerkar (caught & bowled). Remarkably, he batted at No. 10 later on and was undefeated at three off four balls as Reliance 1 defeated Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited by two wickets in a thrilling 126-run chase.
Following a left ankle injury sustained on October 19 during India’s league encounter against Bangladesh at the 2023 Cricket World Cup in Pune, Pandya was ruled out of competitive cricket activity. Soon after, he was declared ineligible for the campaign and placed on an extensive rehabilitation and treatment plan to guarantee his continued availability for tournaments in the future.
He was moved from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians in December 2023, and he took over as captain of the team before of the March 22–23 IPL 2024, taking over from five-time champion Rohit Sharma.
Pandya is captaining Reliance 1, a team that includes Tilak Verma, Nehal Wadhera, Piyush Chawla, Naman Dhir, Akash Madhwal, and Vishnu Vinod in the DY Patil T20 Cup. Players like Sandeep Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Anukul Roy, Shreyas Gopal, and Ramandeep Singh are in the BPCL squad.
Ishan Kisha is anticipated to participate in the competition, most likely for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) team, who play their first game on Tuesday. Since January, Kishan has been practicing in Baroda with Hardik and his older brother, Krunal Pandya. Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, and Shreyas Iyer are anticipated to compete in the competition in addition to him.
