'He has to play...': Hardik's commitment to white-ball earns him BCCI central contract

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced its annual central contracts for the 2023-2024 season, and batsmen

Ishan Kishan

and

Shreyas Iyer

were not included in the list of 30 players. This decision came after they failed to comply with the

BCCI

's directive to play in the

Ranji Trophy

.
Kishan, who plays for Jharkhand, refused to participate in the tournament, while Iyer, from Mumbai, was unavailable for the quarterfinals after his exit from the Indian Test squad.

Interestingly, all-rounder

Hardik Pandya

, who only plays white-ball cricket for India, managed to secure a Grade A contract from the BCCI.

This raised questions about the different treatment given to Pandya compared to Kishan and Iyer. Former Indian all-rounder

Irfan Pathan

highlighted this discrepancy in a tweet.

However, according to a report by the Indian Express, Pandya's situation is unique. He has made a commitment to play for Baroda in the

Syed Mushtaq Ali

T20s and Vijay Hazare Trophy when he is not representing the national side.

"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.

Pandya, who recently recovered from an ankle injury, made his return to competitive cricket at the DY Patil tournament. Representing the Reliance One side, he took two wickets and conceded 22 runs in three overs.
Additionally, he has been training individually in Vadodara and ensuring that his fitness is monitored at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).