Hardik Pandya kya chaand se utar ke aaya hai?: Praveen Kumar rips into Mumbai Indians captain for skipping domestic red ball cricket

(Mumbai Indians X)

Former India player Praveen Kumar ripped into Hardik Pandya on Thursday, saying that the all rounder should be pulled up for skipping the domestic red ball tournaments and be meted out the same treatment that BCCI did to Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan.

“Hardik Pandya kya chaand se utar ke aaya hai? Khelna padega isko bhi. Kyun iske liye alag niyaam hain? Osko bhi board ko dhamkaana chahiye. Kyun khel lega? Teeno format khel na. Ya tu abhi 60-70 Test matches khekl chuka hain ki abhi sirf T20s khelega. Country ko tumhari zaroorat hain (Has Hardik Pandya descended from the moon? He has to play too. Why are there different rules for him? The BCCI should threaten him. Why would you play just the domestic T20 tournament? Play all three formats. Or have you played 60-70 Test matches that you will just play T20. The country needs you),” Kumar said in Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel.

This is not the first time that Kumar had slammed Pandya. Earlier in the week he had criticized the Mumbai Indians captain for his fitness issues.

“You get injured two months before the IPL, you don’t play for the country, you don’t play for your state in domestic cricket, and just directly play in the IPL. That’s not how things should be done. It’s okay to earn money, there’s nothing wrong with that. But you have to play for state and country and now people only give importance to the IPL,” he had said.

As controversy surrounding the decision to omit Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the central contracts list still rumbles on, there was plenty of discussion about Hardik Pandya’s inclusion as well. The Indian Express had reported that the selectors and the BCCI only handed Hardik a contract after the all-rounder gave an undertaking that if there are no white-ball commitments with the national team, he would feature for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s and Vijay Hazare Trophy.

| How Hardik Pandya managed to get a Grade A BCCI central contract

During the meeting, apart from Shreyas and Ishan, there was discussion regarding Pandya’s place in Grade A of the annual contract list as well. Since injuring his ankle during the World Cup in October, Pandya recently returned to competitive cricket in the DY Patil tournament.

According to a top BCCI official, Pandya had given assurance that he would feature in domestic tournaments if they don’t overlap with international commitments.