The Indian cricket team has been struggling to find its combinations right in the ongoing Test series against Australia. As such, they have received a big shot in the arm with the presence of Hardik Pandya, who has been declared fit and can walk into the team for the Boxing day Test match.
The all-rounder took to Twitter and posted a picture with his India teammates during a practice session and captioned it the 'best selfie ever'.
Best selfie ever ? pic.twitter.com/dXGpWuV1co
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) December 23, 2018
Pandya, who ignited plenty of debates with his performance as the all-rounder in England, chipped in with handy contributions with both bat and ball and his inclusion in the side could help Virat Kohli go in with a more aggressive bowling attack.
Injury cloud over Ashwin, Jadeja
There is still an injury cloud over R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and with India having a very long tail, the batting prowess of Pandya can come in handy in the upcoming Test matches. He has been in good form as he claimed a five-wicket haul on his return to the field during the Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Baroda and then backed it up with a defiant innings with the bat.
"The problem with Jaddu (Jadeja) is that he had taken an injection four days into coming to Australia, because of some stiffness in the shoulder and it took a while for that injection to settle down," head coach Ravi Shastri told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
"So when you look at Perth, we felt that he was maybe 60-70 per cent fit and that we didn't want to risk that in Perth. If he was 80 per cent fit here (MCG), he will play," he added.
Despite having a 19-member squad, India have a lot of problems to deal with and are juggling to find the right combination.