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Irfan Pathan slams Hardik Pandya in brutal assessment of Mumbai Indians captain
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
Pathan has asserted that Pandya should not be given the choice of picking and choosing the international matches that he wishes to play. He believes that Indian cricket should start placing more importance to the greater interests of the team, rather than hovering around being biased towards certain superstars. Pathan even warned that Team India will keep falling short of winning major tournaments if such a cultural shift doesn’t take place.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has slammed Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya and urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to stop prioritising the all-rounder ahead of major global events.
Pandya last played for India during their ICC Men’s ODI World Cup fixture against Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune in October. He returned to full fitness in January but didn’t turn up for the Men in Blue as there have been no limited overs games played by India since the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan.
“What I feel about Hardik Pandya is that Indian cricket needs to make it clear that they should not give him that much priority as they have given him so far, because we still haven’t won the World Cup. And if you think you are a primary all-rounder, you need to make that kind of an impact at the international level,” Pathan said on the Star Sports Press Room show.
He added, “As far as the all-rounder is concerned, he hasn’t made that impact at the international level, we are only thinking about the potential. We are getting confused between the IPL performances and the international performances. That’s a big difference.”
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Pathan has asserted that Pandya should not be given the choice of picking and choosing the international matches that he wishes to play. He believes that Indian cricket should start placing more importance to the greater interests of the team, rather than hovering around being biased towards certain superstars. Pathan even warned that Team India will keep falling short of winning major tournaments if such a cultural shift doesn’t take place.
“First of all, he needs to play throughout the full year. He cannot pick and choose. Indian cricket needs to stop doing that. Stop giving preferences to individuals, if you do that, you will not be winning major tournaments. What Australia has been doing for many years is that they are actually preferring the team game. Making everyone a superstar. Not one superstar, everybody is a superstar in the squad. If you don’t do that, you will not win big tournaments,” Pathan signed off.
Mumbai Indians (MI) will play their next game at the Ekana Sports City in Lucknow on April 30, at 7:30 pm IST. MI, having won three out of their nine games so far, will be chasing their fourth win of the season as the campaign enters its business end.
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