Sourav Ganguly wants 29-year-old star to start playing Test cricket for India again. Picture Credit: ANI and AP

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India suffered a heartbreaking defeat by 209 runs against Australia in the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023 at the Oval in London last week. The loss against the Baggy Greens was the second straight season in a row when India went down in the decider. Well, there are a lot of reasons for India’s flop show in the summit clash, but one of the major ones was the team selection. To play four seamers, India benched world No. 1 Test bowler R Ashwin, and that decision backfired. Indian pacers failed to keep the Aussies under control, and they kicked India out of the contest on Day 1 itself, and from that day on, it was always about delaying the inevitable.

India didn’t have the luxury of a fast-bowling all-rounder for the final, due to which Ashwin had to make way, but with the new WTC cycle set to start with an away series against the West Indies next month, legendary Indian captain and former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has expressed his desire to see Hadik Pandya, who is a world class fast-bowling all-rounder, back in the whites.

"Let's not jump to conclusions due to just one loss; India will always have talent. India has enormous reserves. When you look at some of the performances. I don't consider IPL performances if we are sticking to Test cricket . In domestic cricket, there are some fantastic players, and you will only find out when you give them opportunities. Whether it be Jaiswal or Patidar, Abhimanyu Easwaran from Bengal scores a lot of runs. Shubman Gill is young; Ruturaj Gaikwad is young; and I hope Hardik Pandya is listening. I want to see him play Test cricket, especially in these conditions," Ganguly said on India Today.

Hardik, who has played in a total of 11 Tests for Team India so far, has scored 532 runs and picked up 17 wickets. He has a five-wicket haul to his name, which came against England during the 2018 tour, but since then he has not played in the Test matches.

He was asked about the possibility of playing in the WTC 2023 final for India during the IPL 2023, but he turned it down, saying that he would like to earn a spot in the Test, having not played first-class cricket since December 2018.

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