The first ODI\u2009encounter between India and South Africa in Dharamsala on Thursday holds extra significance for all-rounder Hardik Pandya as it can be his first international match since September 2019. Pandya was expected to return in the series against New Zealand but was pulled out as his recovery was not complete. However, he proved his mettle in the DY\u2009Patil Cup where he slammed an unbeaten 55-ball-158 in which he smashed 20 sixes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pandya last played an ODI against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final in Manchester and his last international game was a T20 against the Proteas in Bengaluru in September last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with team mate Yuzvendra Chahal which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) aired on its website, Pandya spoke about the mental struggle of being on the sidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI missed this atmosphere the most in these last six months, playing for the country and the feeling you get wearing the team\u2019s colours,\u201d he said. \u201cThat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was important,\u201d said Pandya when asked about his run of form and his knocks in the DY\u2009Patil Cup. \u201cI 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first ODI\u2009encounter between India and South Africa in Dharamsala on Thursday holds extra significance for all-rounder Hardik Pandya as it can be his first international match since September 2019. Pandya was expected to return in the series against New Zealand but was pulled out as his recovery was not complete. However, he proved his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81418,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81416\/revisions\/81418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}