Former Indian pacer Praveen Kumar has recently criticized Hardik Pandya, the newly appointed captain of the Mumbai Indians for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. Praveen questioned Hardik’s credentials and willingness to play domestic cricket and represent the Indian team. He expressed his disapproval of Hardik’s decision to skip playing for Team India or his state team Baroda in domestic cricket and directly return for the IPL after recovering from an injury.
Well said Praveen Kumar about hardik Pandya #HardikPandya #MI
— विजय (@bijjuu11) March 12, 2024
Praveen Kumar hits out at Hardik Pandya
In a viral clip, Praveen Kumar stated, “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 only give importance to the IPL”.
Hardik Pandya, who suffered an ankle injury in the ODI World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh on October 19, is set to make a return in IPL 2024. He joined the Mumbai Indians franchise on March 11 and immediately began practising for the team’s pre-tournament camp.
The star all-rounder led the Titans to their maiden title win in IPL 2022 and the franchise finished off IPL 2023 as the runners-up after losing the finals against CSK under his captaincy. In a historic trade, he returned to Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans and was named as their captain ahead of the IPL 2024 mini-auction.
Praveen Kumar also expressed his opinion that the Mumbai Indians franchise could have continued with Rohit Sharma as their captain, instead of replacing him with Hardik. He said, “Yes, Rohit can do it. Not only for one year, but he can do it for two years, or three years. But eventually, the decision lies in the hands of the management.”
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 2024 season. Praveen questioned Hardik's credentials and willingness to play domestic cricket and represent the Indian team.){kind=link}