Ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which begins on Wednesday, 8 December, the Pandya brothers have become a handful for the Baroda Cricket Association. The two brothers, Hardik and Krunal are crucial assets for the state board but as things stand, it looks like they will be going into India’s premier 50-over tournament without the services of one of them.
According to a PTI report, the BCA sent an email to Hardik enquiring about his availability for the tournament, to which the junior Pandya sent back a one-liner stating that he would be skipping the trophy owing to a rehabilitation programme.
News agency PTI has quoted an unnamed BCA source who stated that the state association has no clue about the whereabouts of Hardik Pandya and they do not know what exactly his injury is.
“It is understood that he is trying to do some strength and conditioning module for his back which is no longer in best of shape post-surgery in 2019,” the source told the news agency.
On the other hand, the board had to warn Krunal that he cannot come and go as he pleases ahead of the tournament.
“BCA told Krunal that he can’t just land up during tournaments and he has to be a part of the camp. Then he came and trained with the team for a week.”
Krunal Pandya has had a strained relationship with domestic cricket in recent times, with a big bust-up against domestic powerhouse Deepak Hooda. Hooda explained his position in a mail and chose to end his career with Baroda after the association decided to suspend him instead of taking action against Pandya.
“Today I was practising in nets and doing my preparation for tomorrow’s game with the permission of Head Coach Mr Prabhkar. Then Krunal came in nets and started misbehaving (bad) language with me. I told him that I’m doing my preparation with the permission of the Head coach. He told me that ‘I’m the captain, Who is the head coach? I am the overall of Baroda team’. Then he stopped my practice showing his Dada Giri,” Hooda had written in a mail accessed by Indian Express.
This time around Krunal Pandya was told to join the camp ahead of the trophy if he wanted to be in contention for the first XI.