Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma gave an update about Hardik Pandya’s fitness and said that he might bowl from next week. His comments came after Mumbai Indians (MI) comfortably won against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their last league encounter of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

However, the defending champions failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishig fifth on the points table behind the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on net run rate. Pandya disappointed with a mediocre outing with the bat and scored only 10 runs off eight balls. He didn’t bowl again. 

Rohit said that Pandya could resume bowling in the “next week or so”. “He is getting better day by day, so in the next week or so he might be able to bowl. Only the doctors and physios will be able to give an update on that,” he revealed in the post-match press conference.

Rohit Sharma  also said that the all rounder was under constant observations of the trainers, physios and the medical team. “In terms of his bowling, he hasn’t bowled yet. So, the physios, trainers and the medical team are working on his bowling. As of now, all I know is that he hasn’t bowled a single ball yet but we wanted to take one game at a time and see where he stands,” he added.

The MI skipper backed Pandya despite a disappointing performance with the bat in IPL 2021. The MI captain, who believes in the “quality” the all-rounder possesses, kept backing him even after Pandya scored only 127 runs at an average of 14.11 this season.

Rohit Sharma said, “As far as his batting is concerned, yes, he will be a little bit disappointed. We know his quality, there is no doubt about that and he has come back from tough situations as well. Personally, for him, he will not be happy with his batting. The team has confidence in his ability.”