Former India cricketer Praveen Kumar slammed Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya ahead of the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League. The 37-year-old mentioned that the star all-rounder barely plays for the national team as he gets injured frequently and also doesn't represent his state team in domestic cricket. “You get injured two months before the IPL, you don't play for the country, you don't play for your state in domestic cricket, and just directly play in the IPL. That's not how things should be done. It's okay to earn money, there's nothing wrong with that. But you have to play for state and country and now people onCCly give importance to the IPL", Praveen said in a viral interview clip.
Praveen also believes that the franchise should have backed Rohit Sharma as the skipper. Notably, after Hardik joined the five-time champions from Gujarat Titans, the all-rounder replaced Rohit as the captain of the side. Head coach Mark Boucher stated that Rohit’s form with the bat dropped in the last couple of years and to give him some relaxation, the team management decided to change to bring Hardik in as captain. However, Praveen believes that Rohit could have led Mumbai for at least three more years. He added that the decision solely lies in the hands of the management and they wanted a new face. “Yes, Rohit can do it. Not only for one year, but he can do it for two years, three years. But eventually, the decision lies in the hands of the management,” Praveen said.
Also Read: Hardik Pandya joins Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2024
This is not the first that the cricketing fraternity has encountered such talks around Hardik. Besides it being a usual murmur on social media each time Hardik incurred an injury over the course of the last few years, veteran India all-rounder Irfan Pathan was the first to raise the topic openly from the cricket community when Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan had faced BCCI's wrath over prioritising IPL over domestic cricket as the two were removed from central contracts. Both Ishan and Iyer, during their time away from national duty, turned a blind eye to the board's repeated order to participate in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. Hence, in an unprecedented step, BCCI removed both from the annual retainers for the 2023/24 season.Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against Gujarat Titans on March 24.
