India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed that Hardik Pandya can not yet bowl 10 overs and thus there are doubts over his selection. Pandya has been named in India A squad for the One Day series against Australia A but his final selection is subject to fitness clearance.

Gambhir said Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy could play together in the playing XI if both are fit for selection. Reddy bagged six wickets in three T20I against Afghanistan and ended the series as the highest wicket-taker. The all-rounder returned with impressive figures of 3-25 in his quota of four overs on Thursday.

Reddy was initially named in India’s Asian Games (T20I) squad, but has been moved to the ODI side against West Indies.

Gautam Gambhir said in the post-match press conference, “From Nitish’s point of view, it’s actually a great thing that he’s been withdrawn from the T20 format and he’ll get game time against West Indies,” Gambhir said, speaking after India’s 3-0 win in the T20I series against Afghanistan, in which Reddy took six wickets at an average of 13.16 and an economy rate of 8.77 (mainly due to his none for 30 from two overs in the first game).

“We know how important seam-bowling allrounders will be in a year’s time when we go to South Africa, and the more the merrier. And once Hardik comes back, obviously, it’s going to be good. Sometimes we could even go on to play both of them in the playing XI.

“But again, Hardik, at the moment, if he cannot bowl ten overs and he hasn’t played a lot of cricket since the IPL, we don’t want to push him into international cricket, because international cricket can be extremely tough on your body as well.

“So if he plays that India A series, he’ll get some game time as well. And that was the clear message to him: if he can play that A series and then if everything goes well, he can come back and be part of the T20s and the one-day squad as well.”

India will next take on Japan in a one-off T20I.