Why Hardik Pandya Was Dropped From India’s T20 Squad: Ajit Agarkar Explains

Hardik Pandya India T20 Exclusion: Just a couple of months ago, Hardik Pandya was celebrating his second consecutive ICC T20 World Cup victory with India. Today, he has been excluded from the nation’s shortest format squads. India will tour Ireland and England, led by a new captain, Shreyas Iyer, along with debutant teen sensation, Vaibhav Sooryvanshi, but will be without one of their most experienced all-rounders. Some may be wondering if Pandya’s lack-lustre IPL campaign may have something to do with it, but that is not the case.

BCCI Prioritize Pandya For ODI World Cup

Hardik Pandya led Mumbai Indians to a nineth place finish in IPL 2026, and was also out of action briefly due to a back injury. However, that is not why he has been left out of India’s T20 squad. 

BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed at the squad announcement press conference that One Day Internationals (ODIs) is what they want Pandya to focus on.

“ODI is the objective with him, gives us a chance to go with Nitish Reddy, there will be rotation and rest, we will see if he will be ready for the ODI World Cup, we will assess and go ahead.”

Hardik Pandya has been called-up for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Afghanistan. The last time he featured in a 50-over game for India was the ICC Champions Trophy final last year.

IND vs AFG ODIs: Full Squad

Along with Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal is also a fairly new addition to India’s ODI squad for the Afghanistan series. He replaced Virat Kohli, who is out due to injury. 

Here’s a look at the full squad:

Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma*, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey

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