‘Absolutely fit for IPL but unfit to play for India’: Ex-BCCI administrator in disbelief after Gautam Gambhir’s fitness update on Hardik Pandya

‘Absolutely fit for IPL but unfit to play for India’: Ex-BCCI administrator in disbelief after Gautam Gambhir’s fitness update on Hardik Pandya originally appeared on Cricket News.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Ex-BCCI administrator Makarand Waingankar questioned how Hardik Pandya can be fit for the IPL yet unfit for India duty.
• Pandya, who captains the Mumbai Indians, is managing a quadriceps injury sustained after the IPL 2026 season, compounded by a back spasm.
• Gautam Gambhir has set a benchmark of bowling 10 full overs for Pandya’s ODI return.

Makarand Waingankar in disbelief after Gautam Gambhir’s fitness update on Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya’s continued absence from India’s white-ball plans has drawn fresh criticism, this time from a genuinely credible voice within Indian cricket administration.

Makarand Waingankar, the former Baroda Cricket Association CEO whose Talent Resource Development Wing helped unearth MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan, questioned why Pandya’s fitness remains such a persistent mystery.

Waingankar’s frustration came after Gautam Gambhir explained, in an interview with JioHotstar, that Pandya still cannot bowl 10 overs and would need game time before India considers bringing him back for the ODI World Cup build-up.

Pandya was subsequently left out of India’s squad for the West Indies series entirely. His comments capture a broader exasperation that has followed India’s fitness management all year, but they also arrive alongside details that complicate the specific comparison being drawn.

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What Waingankar said about Pandya’s fitness

Waingankar’s post questioned the logic of a player thriving in franchise cricket while remaining unavailable for the national side. “Old theory was the more you play, the better you are likely to perform,” he tweeted.

Old theory was More you play, better you are likely to perform. Difficult to believe no top sports scientist in the world is able to solve fitness issues of Hardik Pandya who is absolutely fit for the IPL but unfit to play for India. https://t.co/iVPZNO8pZt

— Makarand Waingankar (@wmakarand) September 25, 2026

He then aimed his frustration squarely at India’s medical and fitness set-up. “Difficult to believe no top sports scientist in the world is able to solve fitness issues of Hardik Pandya, who is absolutely fit for the IPL but unfit to play for India,” Waingankar wrote.

The reality is somewhat messier than Waingankar’s post suggests. Pandya actually missed four Mumbai Indians matches during IPL 2026 itself due to back spasms, and the quadriceps injury currently keeping him out developed only after that tournament concluded, compounded by the same back issue resurfacing.

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Why the “fit for IPL” framing is not quite accurate

Gambhir has also been specific rather than vague about what is stopping Pandya’s return. “Hardik Pandya cannot bowl 10 overs at the moment. We don’t want to rush him into international cricket,” Gambhir said after India’s third T20I against Afghanistan, adding that once fit, Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy could feasibly play together in the same XI.

That is a concrete, quantifiable fitness benchmark rather than an unsolvable puzzle, and a pathway back already exists. Pandya has been named in India A’s squad for their ODI series against Australia A in Puducherry, pending final clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.

None of that erases the legitimate frustration underneath Waingankar’s comment. India’s fitness management has produced a genuinely troubling pattern this year, with Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana all breaking down either during or immediately after CoE rehabilitation.

Pandya’s case may be explained more specifically than Waingankar’s framing implies, but the broader credibility problem he is reacting to is real, and it will keep resurfacing every time a fitness update sounds this uncertain, this close to a World Cup.

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