"Why would you punish him if he has not made a mistake?" - Aakash Chopra on Hardik Pandya being given a contract unlike Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan
Aakash Chopra reckons Hardik Pandya cannot be compared with Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan and has rightfully been given a BCCI central contract.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India recently announced the list of centrally contracted players for the 2023-24 season. While Shreyas and Kishan were denied contracts, Hardik has been included in Grade A despite not playing in the Ranji Trophy.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that Hardik can't be punished for not playing first-class cricket, explaining (5:05):
"Hardik Pandya's case is very simple. Why would you punish him if he has not made a mistake?
"He is not playing red-ball cricket. That ambition or aspiration does not exist anymore. He has not said that as such, but the truth is that he is not available at all for any Test series."
The former India opener noted that Hardik is not in contention for a place in the Test side and cannot withstand the rigours of first-class cricket.
"So if you are not at all auditioning for Tests, no one will ask you to play first-class cricket.
"Why would you play four-day games when you don't have that much strength in your body to bowl so many overs and have injury problems? So why should he play - fair play," Chopra stated.
Chopra added that his state team would suffer if he's unable to play as an all-rounder in red-ball cricket. He added that Pandya would also take someone else's place in the XI when he doesn't even want to play the longest format, at least in the near future.
"Let's try to understand the chronology slightly" - Aakash Chopra on why Hardik Pandya couldn't play domestic white-ball cricket
Aakash Chopra noted that Hardik Pandya got injured during the World Cup in October-November last year (5:45):
"Let's try to understand the chronology slightly. It will just clear up your mind why a different rule has been kept for him and why it is wrong to include him with Ishan and Shreyas. He got injured during the World Cup, that was October-November."
The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that the Baroda all-rounder couldn't have played any domestic white-ball cricket.
"The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was over in October-November. He was playing the World Cup for India at that time. The last match that Baroda played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was on 5th December.
"He was not fit and available. He wasn't practicing anywhere but was recovering from his injury in the NCA," Chopra explained.
Chopra observed that Hardik never made himself unavailable. He added that the argument of comparing his case with that of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan is misplaced and that different rules have not been used for the all-rounder.