"BCCI Ko Dhamkana Chahiye": Ex-India Star Slams Hardik Pandya, Asks "Has He Come From Moon?"

Former India pacer Praveen Kumar lashed out at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), demanding equality in rules for all the players. While announcing the central contracts in February, the country's apex cricket board made it clear that the players who are fit and not on national duty need to be available for their respective domestic teams. Several speculations suggested that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were axed from the player retention list of BCCI as they were unavailable for their respective domestic teams despite being away from India matches.

Iyer did play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final and final matches but both the games took place only after his ouster from the BCCI contract list. On the other hand, Kishan failed to appear in any of the games for Jharkhand in the tournament.

Another player who came under the scrutiny of several critics was Hardik Pandya. The premium all-rounder was retained in the 'A' category of the central contracts but many questioned his availability in domestic cricket when he is off national duty.

"Hardik Pandya chaand se thodi utar ke aaya hai? Khelna padega isko bhi. Kyun iske liye alag niyam hai? Isko bhi board ko dhamkana chahiye. (Has Hardik Pandya descended from the moon? He has to play too. Why are there different rules for him? The BCCI should threaten him)," said Kumar on Shubhankar Mishra's YouTube channel.

Hardik has been out of the international circuit ever since he was ruled out of the Cricket World Cup 2023 due to an ankle injury. He recovered recently and played in the DY Patil T20 Cup in lead-up to the Indian Premier League 2024.

"Why would you play just the domestic T20 tournament? Play all three formats. Or have you played 60-70 Test matches