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).
IPL 2024 auction BIG UPDATE: Hardik Pandya returns to Mumbai Indians, Shubnam Gill becomes Gujarat Titans Captain
