{"id":317540,"date":"2023-10-28T20:26:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T20:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/popularindinews.com\/?p=317540"},"modified":"2023-10-28T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T20:26:11","slug":"the-man-to-watch-in-hardik-pandyas-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/popularindinews.com\/sport\/the-man-to-watch-in-hardik-pandyas-absence\/","title":{"rendered":"The man to watch in Hardik Pandya’s absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

India vice-captain Hardik Pandya will miss their World Cup match with England as he continues to recover from a left ankle injury so the hosts may stick with his replacement Suryakumar Yadav, batsman KL Rahul said on Saturday.<\/p>\n

All-rounder Pandya hurt his ankle while looking to stop a shot with his leg off his own bowling in India’s seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Pune. He then missed the win over New Zealand where Suryakumar was run out for two.<\/p>\n

“Hardik has been a very important member of the team .. so not having him is also a bit of a miss for the team,” Rahul told reporters ahead of Sunday’s game in Lucknow.<\/p>\n

“Surya will probably get his chance and we know what he can do. So our confidence is in Surya till Hardik comes back.”<\/p>\n

India are looking to leapfrog South Africa and return to the top of the table with their sixth consecutive win and could not ask to face England at a better time, with the holders all but eliminated after four losses in five games.<\/p>\n

But Rahul said India would not take their opponents lightly and must focus on their own strengths.<\/p>\n

“They’re still a dangerous team,” he said. “We’ll not go by what has happened with them in the last few games. We’ll focus on tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

All of India’s victories have come while chasing and Rahul said it would be good to test themselves batting first.<\/p>\n

“It’ll be a great opportunity if we get to bat first before the next stage,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In the next four games if we can get to bat first it’ll be a good challenge for us to just see how to pace the innings and it’s been some time since we’ve batted first.”<\/p>\n