[Watch] Hardik Pandya bowls with red ball ahead of IND vs BAN 2024 series

Team India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya has commenced his preparations for the Men in Blue's upcoming three-match home T20I series against Bangladesh. The 30-year-old was recently seen doing bowling practice to gear up for the matches.

The T20I series between India and Bangladesh will kick off at New Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior on October 6. The second (October 9) and third (October 12) matches will take place at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, and Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, respectively.

Interestingly, Hardik bowled with a red ball during the practice session. He has predominantly featured in limited-overs cricket in the recent past due to injury concerns. He isn't taking part in the ongoing Duleep Trophy 2024 either.

His last appearance in Test cricket was against England in 2018. It remains to be seen if Hardik is planning for a comeback in red-ball cricket.

You can watch the videos shared by Hardik on his Instagram stories below:

It is worth mentioning that Hardik Pandya seemed to be the top contender for India's T20I captaincy after Rohit Sharma's retirement from the format following the 2024 T20 World Cup. However, the team management looked in another direction, giving Suryakumar Yadav the leadership position.

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"There should be an attempt" - When Sunil Gavaskar urged the Indian think tank to convince Hardik Pandya to play Tests

During an interaction with Revsportz, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar stated that Hardik Pandya should make a return to Test cricket amid the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

Gavaskar suggested that Hardik's presence would help the Indian team win yet another Test series in Australia and subsequently clinch their maiden WTC title. The cricketer-turned-commentator said in July:

"Yes, absolutely, they can. I think in the next two months, there should be an attempt to convince Hardik Pandya to play Test cricket. If he bowls ten overs a day to go with his batting, this Indian team could become invincible, and they can surely go on and win the WTC and beat Australia in Australia."

Team India are set to tour Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series later this year. The opening encounter of the five-match series will take place at Perth Stadium from November 22.