Ajit Agarkar provides major fitness update on Hardik Pandya as all-rounder is ruled out of AUS vs IND 2025 series

BCCI chief of selectors Ajit Agarkar has provided an update on India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya's injury after the latter was ruled out of the Australia tour for both the white-ball formats. The former Indian pacer claimed that he has no timeline yet for Pandya's availability and that he will know once the Baroda-born player starts rehab.

Pandya picked up an injury before the Asia Cup 2025 final against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium, rendering him unavailable for the match. He has failed to recover in time for the tour Down Under, leaving Team India one key component short in their eleven.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, October 4, Agarkar said, as quoted by India Today:

"At the moment, he is not going to be fit for Australia. We will know in due course how long he is going to be. At this point, in a week's time, he's supposed to be at the CoE, and once he starts his rehab, we will get to better timelines, but definitely not available for Australia."

In the absence of the 31-year-old, Shivam Dube will have to shoulder the responsibility as the premier seam-bowling all-rounder. Dube did well in India's victorious Asia Cup campaign.

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Hardik Pandya's T20I record in Australia

Hardik Pandya batting during Asia Cup 2025. (Credits: Getty)

The seam-bowling all-rounder has featured in 12 T20Is in Australia, taking 11 wickets, while maintaining a batting strike rate of 140.14. He played a vital role in India's T20I series win Down Under in 2020, hammering an unbeaten 42 of 20 deliveries to help the tourists chase down 195 with six wickets to spare.

There has been a major captaincy shift for the Asian Giants in ODIs, with Shubman Gill replacing Rohit Sharma. Both Rohit and Virat Kohli are in line to play their first competitive game since IPL 2025. Their last international match came in the Champions Trophy final in March.

The tour of Australia begins on October 19 with the ODI series at the Optus Stadium in Perth.