World Cup 2023: Hardik IN, Who OUT? Which Player should miss India vs England match if Hardik Pandya comes back?

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India's World Cup 2023 campaign has taken a halt as the hosts will play England after a gap of a week.

Team India secured their fifth consecutive victory in the tournament after convincingly beating New Zealand in Dharamshala on Sunday. It was a clinical performance yet again, which saw an Indian team overcoming the Kiwis after 20 years in any ICC tournament.

Interestingly, the Indian team was not at full strength due to the injury of Hardik Pandya, which he sustained in the match against Bangladesh. The coveted all-rounder sustained an ankle injury, which kept him out of the New Zealand game. And now coming into the England match, there is a good chance that Pandya may return to the Indian side.

Given Pandya's role in the Indian team, the team management won't be risking the all-rounder to play if he is not absolutely fit. There is a gap of a week before India's next game, which has worked well for the team management giving enough timeline for Pandya to recover.

Pandya, the flamboyant Baroda-born player, will be coming straight back into the team once he is fit, but that leaves with a certain question. Who should be left out?

Team India opted for two changes in the New Zealand match. Hardik Pandya was out, and so was Shardul Thakur as Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami replaced the Indian duo.

Shami, who was playing his first World Cup 2023 match against the Black Caps, passed with flying colours. He picked up five wickets, thus becoming the first Indian to have two five-fors in World Cup. For Surya Kumar Yadav, it was an underwhelming outing as the batter could only manage 2 runs before getting run out.

Now when Hardik comes back, team management will have to bring him at the expense of one player. And given the balance of the team, it can be a huge dilemma. If Hardik bowls, then including Shami, India will have four seamers.

But Suryakumar Yadav's omission looks like a simpler explanation. In that case, Hardik will be used only as a batter, which can work for the Indian team as well. The batting of the Indian team has fired so far in this tournament, and letting someone like Hardik replace Surya won't make any drastic change in the equilibrium.