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India white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday said that all-rounder Hardik Pandya should be ready to bowl once the ICC Men's T20 World Cup begins.
Rohit's comments came ahead of the warm-up match against Australia where he is filling in as the stand-in skipper. "Hardik is coming along pretty well, but it'll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn't started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament. We have quality in the main bowlers, but you need an option for a 6th bowler," said Rohit during the toss. Hardik did not bowl a single over for the Mumbai Indians in the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and he also did not bowl in the warm-up fixture against England which was played on Monday. Earlier, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the warm-up match of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup on Wednesday here at ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. Speaking at the toss, Australian skipper Aaron Finch said, "We will bat first. Batted second in the last game, so looking to change things up a bit. It's going very well at the moment. Josh Hazlewood is the only one who'll not take the field today. Mitchell Swepson and Josh Inglis aren't playing as well." On the other hand, India stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma said, "Kohli, Bumrah and Shami are resting today. We wanted to bat first as well, just wanted to try and get runs on the board. We want to make sure that we get the 6th bowling option, some options in the batting order as well, we'll try all those things today." India will next play Pakistan in their opening game of the T20 World Cup on October 24. (ANI)
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