Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya, who was rested from the ongoing India vs Sri Lanka Test series, uploaded a picture on Twitter from his photo shoot for magazine Maxim India. Pandya was earlier named in the 16-man squad for the 3-Test series against the Islanders but the BCCI selection committee pulled him out because of excessive workload on the young all-rounder. (India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Day 1)
The Baroda cricketer has been putting pictures on his Twitter account on a regular basis, a few of those were with his limited overs teammates Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav. With the Test series on, Pandya is one of the many players, including the duo, who are not a part of the longer format of the game.
Hardik has been shooting for Maxim recently and has uploaded multiple pictures from the shoot. The most recent from the 24-year-old all-rounder, was a picture where he was seen flaunting his abs in a ripped physique. Twitterati loved Pandya's picture but there were some, who gave it photoshop treatment and the results were absolutely hilarious.
In an interview with CNN-News 18, Pandya revealed that he had asked to be rested from the current Sri Lanka Test series. "To be honest, I asked for it, because my body was not alright," the all-rounder had told CNN-News 18. "I want to play cricket when I'm totally fit and I'm giving my 100% and I was not able to give that because of a few niggles here and there, which is bound to happen because of the amount of cricket which I have played over this one year."
"I have played 30 ODIs, 25 T20Is and three Test matches in one-and-a half-years," he said. "I have not played this much cricket in my total cricketing career in such a short time. As an allrounder, it's difficult. I do my bowling, I do my batting, I do fielding as well, and managing my workload is very important right now because I have not played much cricket in my life," he added.
Hoping to be fit for the upcoming South Africa tour, Pandya revealed that he is going to work on his fitness to be ready for the big series. "I'm lucky that I got this rest. Actually, rest means I'm going to train in the gym and improve my fitness and again come back properly fit. I'm pretty excited for the South Africa series. I wanted that break to get super fit for the South Africa series and then I can bounce back quickly,” he said.
While BCCI had only confirmed his absence from the Test series, the talented all-rounder could very well be seen in the limited overs series against the Islanders which begins on December 10.