Here's why Hardik Pandya wasn't included in the ODI squad for New Zealand tour

After a successful home season, Team India is all set to take on the Kiwis in their own backyard for a series which comprises of five Twenty20 Internationals followed by three One-day Internationals and two ICC Test championship Test matches. The white-ball leg of the tour will kickstart with Team India’s first-ever five-match T20I series.

The Men in Blue will be without their star duo of Shikhar Dhawan and all-rounder Hardik Pandya for the entirety of the T20I and ODI series. Dhawan’s ordeal with injuries continued in the recently-concluded ODI series against Australia where he fell awkwardly on his shoulder. The Southpaw has been ruled out of the T20I and ODI series, and the national selection committee on Wednesday named Sanju Samson as his replacement in the T20I squad.

The ODI squad was also announced on Wednesday where Prithvi Shaw, who is currently featuring for India A on their tour of New Zealand has been named as Dhawan’s replacement. Many were of the view that Hardik Pandya may eventually replace the left-hander in the squad. However, it has now been learned that Pandya flunked the bowling workload monitoring test ahead of the squad announcement, and he will now have to prove his match-fitness by featuring for Baroda in the upcoming Ranji Trophy rounds.

Hardik Pandya will have to wait for his international comeback

“He must have felt that he will be fit. But as we know he has failed the fitness test contrary to what his trainer S Rajnikant claims. It was never about Yo-Yo Test but about bowling fitness. He failed the workload test which broadly means failing a fitness test,” a senior BCCI source said as quoted by Times Now.

That means Pandya’s wait to make his International comeback will continue. The all-rounder, who was alleged to have failed the fitness test prior to India A’s tour of New Zealand, hasn’t played any competitive cricket since the last T20I of the 3-match series against South Africa in September.

India’s ODI squad for the three-match series against New Zealand: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur. 

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