IND vs AFG: Why is Hardik Pandya Not Playing Today’s India vs Afghanistan Match?

Hardik Pandya IND vs AFG: In an important news update, India’s premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya misses out of the playing XI for this dead-rubber of Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan scheduled to be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. Things did not worked out amazingly well for the Indian team recently in the ongoing edition of the T20 competition where they suffered two disappointing losses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka which saw the Men in Blue getting knocked out.

IND vs AFG: Why is Hardik Pandya Not Playing Today’s India vs Afghanistan Match?

India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul mentioned during the toss that they have once again rested all-rounder Hardik Pandya for this game against Afghanistan. He also did not play the match against Hong Kong earlier in the ongoing T20 tournament purely in order to manage his workload. Hardik contributed with a fabulous all-round match-winning performance in the group stage clash against Pakistan where he picked up a total of three wickets and also smashed a vital knock of 33 runs off just 17 balls to take his team home. The Men in Blue have rested Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal while Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Chahar and Axar Patel have made it to the playing 11.

“We wanted to bat first. We want to challenge ourselves as a batting unit. Rohit wants to take a break, playing back-to-back is not easy in these conditions. Yuzi (Chahal), Rohit and Hardik miss out. Chahar, Karthik and Axar come in. Even coming into this tournament, we had the T20 World Cup in mind. It’s a good learning for us to play such a tournament before the World Cup. We have learnt a few things from the losses. Trying to finalise the roles that each individual will play in the World Cup,” said Indian skipper KL Rahul at the toss.

A look at our Playing XI for the game.

Live – https://t.co/QklPCXU2GZ #INDvAFG #AsiaCup2022 pic.twitter.com/QHicRuYneJ

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 8, 2022

India Playing 11

1. Suryakumar Yadav 
2. KL Rahul (C)
3. Virat Kohli
4. Rishabh Pant (wk)
5. Deepak Hooda
6. Dinesh Karthik 
7. Axar Patel
8. Ravichandran Ashwin
9. Deepak Chahar
10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
11. Arshdeep Singh

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