By Admin 
Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya and senior batsman Rohit Sharma were approved by the Sports Science team of the Center of Excellence (COE) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to play in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan starting in Dharamsala from Saturday.
Pandya and Rohit could not play many IPL matches for Mumbai Indians due to injuries. While Pandya was suffering from back spasm, Rohit had a strain in his leg muscles. Pandya is in COE in Bengaluru since June 2.
A BCCI source told PTI, “Before coming to the CoE on June 2, Hardik was holidaying abroad. In the next five days, he prepared in many match-like situations and also bowled up to 10 overs (full quota).
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“He did not face any problem and as per information, the strength and conditioning coach at the CoE has cleared his fitness on various parameters,” the source said.
Former captain Rohit was also in the COE to check the strain in his leg muscles and after the checkup, he too has been given approval to play.
On Monday, India’s assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak had said that although he does not have any latest information about Pandya’s fitness, he feels that the all-rounder is fine.
Pandya is an important player for India’s limited overs team as he provides balance to the team with his fast bowling and aggressive batting in the death overs.
The best thing is that Pandya is bowling 10 overs in the training session which means he is ready for the challenges of 50 over cricket.
However, it is not clear whether Pandya will join the team for the training session under floodlights in Chandigarh or will reach Dharamshala directly as was decided earlier.
Star batsman Virat Kohli is already out of the series due to leg muscle strain. Apart from Dharamshala, other matches of this series will be held in Lucknow and Chennai on June 17 and 20 respectively.
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