Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya have two weeks time to prove their fitness or risk losing their spots in India’s ODI team for the upcoming series against Afghanistan. While both the players were named in the squad by the selection committee, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar has reinstated that both Rohit and Hardik have to clear the test before joining the team.
Rohit, who picked up a hamstring injury during the course of the IPL, spent a considerable time on the sidelines before making his comeback. Having featured mostly as a player whom the franchise substituted with an Impact Player, concerns still remain over whether he has retained 100 per cent fitness. Similarly, Pandya hasn’t taken the field since their defeat to Chennai Super Kings on May 2, with Suryakumar Yadav and then Jasprit Bumrah stepping in as captains.
ALSO READ | Selectors send Rishabh Pant a clear message – perform in white-ball or wait
Since the 2025 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai, Pandya hasn’t featured in an ODI for India. During the recent home series against South Africa and New Zealand, keeping the T20 World Cup in mind, he wasn’t named in the squads. Having turned out for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, he played two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches in January.
Though Pandya has bowled regularly in the T20 fixtures, there are still concerns whether he would be able to manage the workload in the ODIs, where he would be needed to bowl more than four overs. “I mean, sometimes the player knows whether he can play through it or not,” Agarkar said. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you, sitting here, whether they are playing through niggles or not. You certainly want them fit when they come and play or represent the national team, but that’s an area of expertise for the trainers and the physios who kind of give me the feedback of where a player is at,” he said.
ALSO READ | Prince Yadav’s journey to Team India: From 2-year ban to Kohli’s wicket in IPL
It is understood that while Rohit and Hardik will have to undergo tests before joining the team and in case they don’t clear it, as BCCI secretary Devjit Saikia mentioned, replacements will be named. “I’m not an expert in that area. If they tell me a certain guy’s fit, I’ve got to trust that, that person when we pick them, and maybe in two weeks’ time, if we are told that those two guys haven’t quite made it fitness-wise, we take a call accordingly. But at this point, I’ve been told that they are on track and we’ll perhaps assess it. Now, whether they’ve been playing with something I’m not sure, I go by what the physio tells me, and I have full faith in what the Indian physio tells me,” Agarkar added.
ALSO READ | From Dale Steyn videos to India colours – the making of Gurnoor Brar
Apart from the duo, there are also talks of Varun Chakaravarthy playing through a foot injury for Kolkata Knight Riders. With the season coming at the end of a long season for India, there have been questions around how their workload is being managed. For example, Cricket Australia has put in protocol in place to monitor their players workload and someone like Punjab Kings’ Cooper Connolly hasn’t been able to bowl so far in the IPL based on those directives.
BCCI secretary Devjit Saikia said when it comes to the IPL, the Indian board can’t interfere much. “As far as the IPL is concerned, the franchises do take care about the injuries and the fitness. Our physios from the CoE (Centre of Excellence) are also monitoring them, giving them the workload as well as the plan for how to keep them fit. So, this monitoring is there. We cannot interfere too much when the IPL is going on. Had it been the Indian team, our control would have been more. Now, we are giving that freedom to the franchises. I think all the players will definitely look into their fitness levels when it comes to selection for the national team,” he said.
