'You Get Injured 2 Months Before IPL', Praveen Kumar Slams Hardik Pandya, Asks Him To Prioritise Country Over Franchise

Targetting Hardik Pandya, Praveen Kumar feels that there are many elite-leve cricketers who are choosing IPL over representing India and playing domestic cricket and such an attitude is wrong.

Hardik Pandya and Praveen Kumar. (Image: ANI/X)

IPL 2024 is not far away. The league starts on March 22 with the first match between defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Fans are going to see some new things in the next edition, including some new captains. Pat Cummins, for example, has taken over captaincy duties at Sunrisers Hyderabad. Likewise, we will see a new captain at Mumbai Indians. Who would have thought that such a line would be written about MI so soon. 

Last year, in what was one of the most talked-about trades in IPL history, Hardik Pandya came back to Mumbai Indians and a few days later, he was also named as the captain, replacing Rohit Sharma, who won them the championship a record five times. Rohit's ouster was not welcomed by his fans and majority of the MI fan base. MI saw a huge dip in their Instagram fan following but the management did not go back on the decision. Head coach Mark Boucher was later heard saying on a podcast about the decision, saying the fans went emotional but the decision was purely based on cricketing logic as MI aims to prepare a captain for future.

Former India pacer Praveen Kumar's video, now, is going viral in which he can be heard speaking about Pandya's habit of getting injured just two months before IPL. He felt that Pandya is among the cricketers who are giving importance only to IPL and are ignoring national duty as well as domestic cricket. One cannot understand whether this video is new or from old times but after listening to what he is saying, one understands that it is a video of recent times.

"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)," Praveen Kumar said in the now viral interview clip.

Watch the Praveen Kumar clip here:

Former cricketer Praveen Kumar talking about Hardik Pandya how he's fit only for IPL but not for nation or domestic. He also feels Rohit Sharma could have captained 3-4 more years in MI colour_ pic.twitter.com/2I6Hljvf88 — Immy|| __ (@TotallyImro45) March 12, 2024

The clip is going viral on the internet and may have reached Pandya's phone as well. If the MI captain watches it, he will surely look to give a fitting reply to Praveen, by playing some outstanding knocks in the league and taking MI to the record-extending sixth title.