India all-rounder Hardik Pandya on Monday talked about the “freak injury” he sustained during the World Cup 2023 and noted that his push during the initial period extended the recovery period. During India’s World Cup clash against Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in October, Pandya injured himself while attempting to stop a ball going to the boundary. He tried to use his right leg to stop the ball but slipped and twisted his ankle.

Ahead of the Indian Premier League 2024 season, Pandya opened up about the injury and revealed that he ended up aggravating it while making attempts to be available for the semi-final and final clash.

“My injury in the World Cup was a freak injury. It had nothing to do with my past injuries and it had nothing to do with my fitness. It was just I tried to stop the ball and twisted my ankle. I could have been back in one and a half months. But when I got injured my injury from Day 1 showed that I would be out of the World Cup. Playing for India has always been special. We pushed 10 days we knew it was a difficult uphill task to reach and kind of be fit for the semi-final or final. When we pushed I kind of triggered my injury more and my injury became a little longer,” Pandya said in the Mumbai Indians’ pre-season press conference.

He missed out on the series of five T20Is against Australia at home, and the tour to South Africa as well, which consisted of three ODIs and T20Is each. Suryakumar Yadav, the number-one ranked T20I batter, stepped up as captain in Pandya’s absence.

Pandya revealed that he got his fitness when India played their three-match T20I series against Afghanistan but his absence extended as there were no games to play.

“When I got fit the Afghanistan series just started, I have been fit since then but there were no games to play,” he added.

Pandya recently made his return during the Dy Patil T20 Tournament and led the Reliance 1 side. He will lead five-time champions Mumbai Indians. MI will kick off their campaign against Gujarat Titans on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

MI IPL 204 squad:Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd, Hardik Pandya (c), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma.