The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) secretary, Jay Shah, has lifted the lid on Hardik Pandya's fitness. While speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 auction, Shah revealed that "Hardik is at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) and is working very hard on his fitness".
"We are monitoring it on a day-to-day basis. He is at NCA only, he is working very hard and we will let you know in the due course the moment he is fit. He could be fit before the Afghanistan series also," Shah was quoted as saying by PTI.
Head coach Rahul Dravid's contract extension
While the apex cricketing governing body in the country decided to hand a tenure extension to Rahul Dravid as head coach of the senior men's team following India's heart-breaking loss to Australia in the final of the ODI World Cup, his term of extension is yet to be finalised.
Shah mentioned that the paucity of time between the World Cup and the South Africa tour was the reason why the tenure wasn't formalised, but will be done once the Men in Blue are back on home turf.
"We have given the extension but we are yet to finalise the contract. We did not get time at all, they finished (with the World Cup). I had a meeting with them (Dravid & Co.) and we agreed mutually that they will continue. We will sit down and decide once they return from South Africa," Shah said.
Notably, Rahul Dravid's two-year contract came to an end with India finishing as runners-up at the ODI World Cup. His tenure as head coach saw the senior team play a T20 World Cup semifinal, claim an Asia Cup title, and a runner-up finish in the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle.
