 "Hardik Pandya is captaining Reliance 1 team in the DY Patil T20 tournament. Image: JioCinema")
Hardik Pandya made his much-anticipated return to competitive cricket in the DY Patil T20 tournament which began on Monday. Pandya is captaining Reliance 1 team in DY Patil T20 tournament who are playing against Bharat Petroleum at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Cricket Ground in Navi Mumbai.
Hardik Pandya is playing a competetive cricket match for the first time since suffering an ankle injury against Bangladesh in the ODI World Cup 2023.
Apart from Hardik, Mumbai Indians’ Tilak Verma, Nehal Wadhera and Piyush Chawla are also part of the Reliance playing XI. However, Ishan Kishan has not been named in the team.
It was earlier stated that Ishan Kishan could play in DY Patil T20 tournament but News18 CricketNext has now reported that he will turn up for Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the tournament.
The report also states that Dinesh Karthik, the cricketer-turned-commentator, will be skipping his commentary duties during the Dharamsala Test between India and England to take part in the DY Patil T20 tournament as a player.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore wicketkeeper-batter will be turning up for DY Patil B to prepare for the IPL 2024.
The DY Patil T20 tournament will include 16 teams who will be divided in four groups of four teams each. The matches will be played at the DY Patil Stadium and DY Patil University Ground and and will be exclusively streamed on Jio Cinema app and website.