But it has now come to the fore that the move was aimed primarily to keep the player with the national team and ensure that he gets fit in time for the ODI series against Australia. “If you realise, Baroda wasn’t playing a game for 16 days since the match against Mumbai from December 14. “While Pandya played one domestic game, he did show that he was in fine form as he picked a fifer and also scored 73 runs in an innings. “Pandya coming here gives you an option (of playing five bowlers) but he has not played much first-class cricket. He has just played one game after injury so we have to be very careful before we actually decide whether he plays or not,” Shastri had said.

Source: Hindustan Times January 08, 2019 05:48 UTC