BCCI had discussions with Hardik Pandya’: How India all-rounder escaped Kishan-Iyer treatment at the last moment
There were no doubts about what Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer bring to the table as premier batters at Team India. However, the batting duo was deemed surplus to requirements when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced its annual central contracts on Wednesday.
Iyer and Kishan were not part of the 30-player list for the 2023-2024 season. After Kishan and Iyer lost their BCCI contracts, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan shared an interesting post mentioning the curious case of all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
Contract extensions were not handed out to Iyer and Kishan for ignoring BCCI’s directive to play in the Ranji Trophy. Wicketkeeper-batter Kishan refused to show up for Jharkhand in the Ranji season.
Mumbai’s Iyer was not available for the quarterfinal against Baroda following his exit from the Indian Test squad. Kishan’s teammate at the Mumbai Indians (MI), all-rounder Pandya, bagged a Grade A contract from the apex cricket board for the 2023-2024 season.
How Hardik Pandya escaped ‘Kishan-Iyer treatment’?
In his explosive tweet, Irfan suggested that Pandya was not judged on the same parameter. All-rounder Pandya only plays white-ball cricket for India. So, how did Pandya manage to escape the Kishan-Iyer treatment at the last moment? According to a report filed by the Indian Express, Pandya will play for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s and Vijay Hazare Trophy when he is not a part of the national side.
As per a top BCCI official, Pandya vowed to ply his trade with Baroda in domestic tournaments when the all-rounder is not on national duty.
