Hardik Pandya has been retained in his Grade A contract despite not been in action since the ODI World Cup 2023 last year.
New Delhi: At a time when the cricketing fraternity is talking about Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s omissions from the recently-announced BCCI Central Contracts, there have been a lot of discussions about Hardik Pandya. The India all-rounder, who last played for the Men in Blue in the ODI World Cup 2023 in November, has been retained in Grade A. Pandya, who injured his ankle against Bangladesh, recently returned to action for the first time in DY Patil T20 tournament earlier this week.
Kishan and Iyer’s snub from the contract list comes after the duo denied playing in the Ranji Trophy despite being fit, thus not respecting BCCI’s directive to play domestic cricket when not playing for the national team. In case of Pandya, he only plays in white-ball cricket for India. His last Test match for India was in 2017, while his last outing for state side Baroda was in 2018 in a Ranji Trophy match.
It is understood that Hardik’s was handed the Grade A contract, pure on few conditions. According to a report in Indian Express, Hardik had to give an undertaking that if he isn’t a part of the Indian white-ball team despite being fit later in the year, the Mumbai Indians captain will have to represent his state in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s and Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Unlike for Kishan and Iyer, what worked for Pandya is that he kept on reporting to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) from time to time whenever required. The 30-year-old was seen training at Vadodara recently before appearing in the corporate T20 league in Mumbai.
“We have had discussions with Pandya, who has been told to play domestic white-ball tournaments when he is available. At this stage, according to the assessment of the BCCI’s medical team, he is not in a position to bowl in red-ball tournaments. So playing Ranji Trophy is out of the equation for Pandya. But he has to play other white-ball tournaments if there are no India commitments. If not, he will miss out on a contract,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by the English daily.
After the fifth and final Test against England, the Indian stars will get busy with the Indian Premier League, followed by the T20 World Cup in USA and West Indies. According to the Future Tours Programme, India are scheduled to play only three T20Is against Bangladesh at home.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s and Vijay Hazare Trophy will be conducted in October-November when India do not have any white-ball tournaments. If Pandya is fit, he will have to play in both the competitions.