Hardik Pandya to play in DY Patil T20 Tournament alongside Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Navi Mumbai: Fit-again India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is set to play in the DY Patil T20 tournament, which began in Navi Mumbai on Monday.

Hardik suffered a bad lower back injury five months ago and underwent a surgery in London.

The 26-year-old all-rounder, who hasn’t played international cricket since then, has been recovering at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

“The Reliance 1 (team) would be represented by players like Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan,” said Dr Vijay Patil, President, DY Patil Sports Academy and also the President of Mumbai Cricket Association at a press briefing in Navi Mumbai.

Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar are also on their road to recovery after sustaining injuries.

Bhuvneshwar underwent a hernia operation, while Dhawan suffered a shoulder injury during the ODI series against Australia at home last month.

A total of 16 teams will vie for the trophy with the final set to be held on 6 March.

As per the organisers, the Reliance 1 team will also have Anmolpreet Singh.

India players Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson and domestic stalwarts like Surya Kumar Yadav, Rahul Tripathi and Divyaansh Saxena, who represented U-19 India in the World Cup, are part of the BPCL team.

Dinesh Karthik, Mandeep Singh, Rahul Tewatia, Varun Chakravarthy and young Maharashtra batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad will represent DY Patil A team.

Another youngster Kamlesh Nagarkoti, pacer Varun Aaron and Manan Vohra would turn up for DY Patil B team.

Other teams in fray are CAG, Income Tax, IOC, Bank of Baroda and RBI.