Hardik Pandya’s ill-timed injury has come as a sudden hurdle in India’s previously unstoppable march to the World Cup. On November 4, they confirmed Pandya had been ruled out, replaced by Prasidh Krishna.

Replacing Pandya can never be easy: India’s always had a paucity of good fast-bowling all-rounders, and have always struggled to find a suitable replacement through his previous injury issues. The latest setback came against Bangladesh on October 19, while stopping a shot off his own bowling. It led to ligament damage to his ankle.

Initially, he was set to join the team a week later, but the recovery timeline kept pushing back. Hopes of returning for the knockouts remained, but an update on November 4 confirmed that he had been ruled out.

While teams usually prefer having a like-for-like replacement, India went for a proper seamer in Prasidh Krishna. It is interesting to note that Krishna himself had been out due to injury for close to a year, missing this year’s IPL as well. He returned alongside Jasprit Bumrah for the Ireland T20Is in August, and then went on to feature in the Asia Cup. With the pace attack back to full strength, Krishna couldn’t find a spot in the main World Cup squad.

The 27-year-old has 113 wickets from 67 List A games at 27.1, and is largely looked at as a hit the deck bowler who can extract extra bounce due to his tall frame. It provides variety to an India attack that is led by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, whose expertise is more on seaming lengths.

He made his ODI debut in 2021 against England, and has since taken 29 wickets at 25.58 from 17 matches. He, however, covers only one side of Pandya’s skillset: with the bat, he’s got just two runs across five ODI innings. India’s seamers have also been in prime form, leaving little room for Krishna to enter, with Pandya’s absence also leaving them with a long tail.

Tough to digest the fact that I will miss out on the remaining part of the World Cup. I'll be with the team, in spirit, cheering them on every ball of every game. Thanks for all the wishes, the love, and the support has been incredible. This team is special and I'm sure we'll… pic.twitter.com/b05BKW0FgL

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) November 4, 2023

Switching a quality all-rounder with a quick might confuse some, but there is logic behind picking Krishna, as explained by Rahul Dravid in the pre-match press conference against South Africa.

“I think it’s a pretty obvious thought process,” Dravid told reporters in Kolkata, when asked if a batting all-rounder like Tilak Varma could have been an option. “After Hardik has been injured, which he has been for the last two or three games, and then obviously didn’t play a couple of the games in the Australia series as well. We have played with a combination which has been three fast bowlers and two spinners.”

“And yeah, in our reserves, in the guys sitting outside in the 15, we had a backup for the spin. We had a backup for the spin, we had a backup for the batting, and we had a backup in the bowling all around the category. So, we did recognize that if this is a combination we’re going to take, and if there is an issue of an illness, or a small niggle, or an injury, then we need to have a backup for that.

“It also allows us to play other combinations. It doesn’t mean that we can’t play other combinations. But if this is the one combination that which we have gone with recently, then yeah, that is the one area which we possibly hadn’t backed up with the injury to Hardik Pandya.”

In simple terms, India decided to bolster their backups, knowing that their main squad has enough depth to make the first XI. To ensure that they have a backup if one of their main seamers goes out, India decided to pick another. In Ishan Kishan and R Ashwin they have batting and spin backup. Shardul Thakur gives them additional variety, although it’s difficult for him to break into an XI that has Bumrah, Siraj and Shami helming the pace attack.

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