We have to have an amount of faith in our S&Cs: Hardik Pandya

India have had to deal with multiple injury woes in recent times. To top it all, with the extraordinary amount of cricket that the side are playing nowadays, things have started to look pale from multiple angles. In the latest case, Shreyas Iyer, who missed the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to injury, returned to the squad for the second game but had to be ruled out of the fourth Test, without facing a ball as injury resurfaced.

When Hardik Pandya was quizzed about the same in the pre-match press conference ahead of the first India-Australia ODI in Mumbai, the all-rounder, who will lead the side in the first game with Rohit Sharma unavailable for family commitments, stated that the team have a lot of confidence in the process laid out by the Strength and Conditioning team. 

"We have to have faith in our S&Cs," Pandya explained. "I am a guy who trusts his team. These calls of workload, who should play when, and who should not play, that is completely on the guys who are professionals and it is their call. All these guys are confident that if they miss out on some matches, then they miss out. 

“It's okay. That's the confidence we have. If someone misses out because of workload management, this management has shown confidence and trust in the players. I think that's the reason players who have gone out have come back with a lot of security."

Jasprit Bumrah, who is struggling with back issues for a while now, returned for the last year’s ODI series against Australia and that escalated the issue, ruling him out of the upcoming Indian Premier League. Pandya stated that no timeline has been set for Bumrah to return.

"No timeline, we have to hope for the best to wish him speedy recovery. I have been in that situation where back could be a problem... we'll miss him but we have to find solutions if he isn't around. If he is, he is of course welcome. There's a lot of time to think about how we can go forward."

In the absence of Rohit Sharma, the spot opens up for Ishan Kishan to open alongside Rohit Sharma, with KL Rahul batting in the middle order. "Ishan and Shubman will be opening. The wicket looks how it is throughout the year. I have played here for almost seven years and it is one of the finest grounds I have played on. It's going to be challenging since this wicket will give equal opportunities to both sides."