Hardik Pandya Fails To Fire In First 50-Over Match After 14 Months
Hardik Pandya came out to bat for Baroda in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Bengal on Saturday and scored 1 run from two balls.
Star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya made his much-awaited comeback to the 50-over format of the game on Saturday, December 28. The 31-year-old cricketer last played a one-day match on October 19, 2023, against Bangladesh in Pune. He suffered an injury in that match of the ODI World Cup 2023, which ruled him out of action for more than four months.
In his first one-day match after more than 14 months, Hardik, however, failed to do much and returned back to the pavilion after scoring 1 run from two balls.
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The 31-year-old right-handed batter, who is expected to be part of India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad, came out to bat at No. 5 for his domestic side Baroda against Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 match, which is currently underway at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. He opened his account with a single on the first ball, but on the next ball he was caught by Sudip Kumar Gharami off Pradipta Parmanik’s bowling.
Hardik missed the first couple of matches of the ongoing premier 50-over domestic tournament for Baroda due to personal reasons.
The veteran of 86 ODIs for India had opted out of India’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in August 2024 as well due to personal reasons.
Hardik’s performance in recent matches
Before taking the field for the Krunal Pandya-led side in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match on Saturday, Hardik played seven matches in the 2024 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scored 246 runs with a strike rate of 193.70. He twice crossed the 50-run mark for his domestic side and remained unbeaten in two matches as well. During the course of the tournament, he hammered 17 fours and 20 sixes.
Apart from his batting, Hardik made headlines for his bowling as well, and in five innings he accounted for the dismissal of six batters. His best performance with the ball was in the quarterfinal match against Bengal, where, in his quota of four overs, he only conceded 27 runs and got rid of three batters to help Krunal Pandya & Co. successfully defend the total of 172 runs and book a place in the semifinal match against Mumbai.
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