India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya gave India a big jolt with his injury during India’s match against Bangladesh on Thursday as he had suffered an ankle injury following which he was ruled out of India’s match against New Zealand which is scheduled to be played on Sunday at HPCA Stadium. With his all out abilities, Hardik Pandya has played his key role in India’s victories in the past but it will be quite a blow for India going into their match against New Zealand. India’s head coach Rahul Dravid, while addressing the press conference ahead of India’s match against New Zealand, spoke on the absence of Hardik Pandya and his importance in the team.

“Obviously, he is an important player for us. He’s an important all-rounder. But he is going to be missing this game so we’ll try to work around that and see what’s the best combination. What we can come up with. In the end, you’ve got to work with 14 you’ve got. But, yeah, we probably might not have the balance that we had in the first four games,” said Dravid During the press conference.

Rahul Dravid also elaborated on the role of all-rounder Shardul Thakur as Hardik is not available for the match against New Zealand. Dravid complimented Shardul’s ability to take wickets and also appreciated his hard work he is putting in the nets. 

"Shardul clearly, his role was to be that kind of bowling all-rounder for us, you know, in the games that he played. In the games that he played, we saw him as someone who certainly has a happy knack of taking wickets as we have seen and then bowling those middle overs for us and being like a fourth seeming option for us on certain wickets which would probably require that fourth seeming option. And, plus obviously, he hasn't had a chance to really bat a lot over the last bit. But certainly, he's been working very hard in the nets with his batting. And we've been working very hard on it," said Dravid.