Hardik Pandya is set to miss the world cup, owing to the injury he suffered in the match against Bangladesh at Pune. Confirming the same, Hardik said he will be missing the campaign, but is thankful for the love and support showered by the fans who wish for his speedy recovery. Meanwhile, Prasidh Krishna comes in the squad as a replacement. The decision has baffled a few, who were expecting Axar Patel to be a possible replacement for Pandya.

Hardik is a irreplaceable part of the squad owing to his abilities with the bat and ball, and also his energy levels which he brings on to the field. And it was a herculean task for the selection committee to take a call on who replaces him in the 15 member squad. While Axar Patel was named in the squad earlier, he missed it due to an injury pre world cup. However, he is now fit and is doing wonders in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Axar is a great striker of the ball, and his six hitting ability even at the crunch situations is a bonus for the team. His bowling is quite similar to Ravindra Jadeja, as both love to bowl stump to stump. One can argue that a potential replacement for a good allrounder could've been an all rounder.

However, the selection of Prasidh Krishna is a result of his performance in Ireland series, and is possibly because team is looking specifically for someone who bowls fast. It seems like the team is way too confident of the batting line-up. And truly so, the Indian batting has been great throughout the tournament. Skipper Rohit Sharma, Gill, Virat, Rahul, Shreyas, and Surya look really good. And even if few of them falter, the remaining batters take responsibility and bat sensibly. It was evident in the match against Australia and England. And hence the team being probably satisfied with the batting, is just looking for a person who can bowl faster even though the contribution with bat isn't any. And hence, the selection of Prasidh Krishna looks like a result of the same.

All of this might've happened very quickly, but still has left a few questions for the board. The decision looms over the selection committee and asks the team management a question of why anyone like Hardik Pandya is just one of its kind in India. Why can't the management groom good batters, who can bowl faster. Every team coming in the world cup has atleast 2-3 of them in the squad, when India has just irreplaceable Hardik Pandya. If the team would've had any more such players, it was an easy task to name a replacement. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Fortunately for the team's case, absence of Hardik Pandya hasn't affected it's dominance in this world cup. With the way bowlers have bowled in the entire tournament, especially in the match against Srilanka, and with the way batters are doing their job to perfection, as of now the team's balance looks good. And if it continues to happen, even though Prasidh comes in the squad, he'll probably be benched for the winning combination to continue.