Hardik Pandya is not part of Baroda's squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but he will feature in the knockout stages

Hardik Pandya won't play for the Baroda team at the start of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which started on December 21 in different places. But, he's supposed to come back and play when the 50-over tournament gets to the knockout rounds. Kiran More, who is on the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) for the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA), said that Pandya will be back to play beginning at the knockout stages.

"He will play from the knockouts " 

Pandya has been mostly staying from cricket games that aren't T20 formats for a while now; the important thing to note is Pandya picking to join the VHT in the knockout rounds, especially looking back at how he's been doing in cricket recently. It's been some time since Pandya played in a game that wasn't a T20 - the last time was long ago on October 19, 2023, in an ODI World Cup game against Bangladesh. He was injured, hurting his ankle during that game, and that injury made him take a break from playing serious cricket for quite some time. Since getting hurt, Pandya has primarily been playing in T20s, participating in 38 matches that include games for his country, IPL matches, and some local games.

Ajit Agarkar leads the national selection committee, and they, along with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), say you must play in domestic tournaments, unless they tell you you do not have to. When Pandya played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) recently, "he helped Baroda make it to the semifinals by scoring 246 runs and getting six wickets in just seven games".

Pandya getting into the group for next year's Champions Trophy might heavily rely on how well he does in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The presence of new talents, including Andhra all-rounder Nitish Reddy, doing really well with bat and ball in the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, introduces tough competition. If Pandya wants to secure his spot, shining in the 50-over games could be crucial, especially since these up-and-comers are showing they can do just as well as he does.

Whether Pandya gets to play in the knockout rounds or not all depends on how Baroda does in the VHT group stages. They're in Group E for the league stage, captained by Krunal Pandya, who is Pandya's brother. The teams they need to beat are Tripura, Kerala, Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi. Before this, Baroda did well in the SMAT; they got to the semifinals but couldn't win because it was very rainy in Bengaluru. More hopes that Baroda can make it into the VHT knockout stages now too.More was glad regarding how the team did in the SMAT and thinks they have a good shot at the knockouts in the VHT too. People are already excited about the chance of seeing Pandya play if Baroda gets through the early rounds; "the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts are going to begin in Baroda on January 9", and the important game to decide the winner is planned for January 18. With the VHT just starting, everyone is really watching how Baroda does and hoping Pandya can perform well in the important parts of the tournament.