India all-rounder Hardik Pandya on Monday spoke about the “weird injury” he suffered during the 2023 World Cup and noted that his push in the initial stages prolonged the recovery period. Pandya was injured while trying to stop the ball from heading towards the boundary during India’s World Cup match against Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in October. He tried to stop the ball with his right leg, but his foot slipped and sprained his ankle.

Ahead of the start of the Indian Premier League 2024 season, Pandya opened up about his injury and revealed that he ended up aggravating the injury while trying to play in the semi-finals and finals.

“My injury at the World Cup was a freak injury. It had nothing to do with my past injuries or my fitness. It was just me trying to stop the ball and spraining my ankle. I was supposed to be back a month and a half later . But when I got injured, which I had from day one, it was a sign that I would not be able to play in the World Cup. Playing for India has been special. We had a 10-day delay and we knew it was a tough task. “I have adapted to the semi-finals or the final,” Pandya said at Mumbai Indians’ pre-season press conference. As we pushed, my injury got worse and my injury got longer. “

He missed the five-match T20Is series against Australia at home and also missed the tour of South Africa, which included three ODIs and T20Is. Suryakumar Yadav, the top-ranked T20I batsman, captained the team in Pandya’s absence.

Pandya revealed that he got fit during India’s three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, but his absence was extended as there were no games to play.

“I got fit when the Afghanistan series just started and I have been fit since then but had no games to play,” he added.

Pandya recently returned and led the Reliance 1 team in the Dy Patil T20 tournament. He will lead the five-time champions Mumbai Indians. MI will take on Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

MI IPL 204 Lineup:Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd, Hardik Pandya (c), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Suchhara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma.