Irfan Pathan lashes out at Hardik Pandya: 'Indian cricket needs to stop giving him that much priority'

Hardik Pandya, the India all-rounder, has faced fresh criticism from Irfan Pathan, who has urged the BCCI to stop giving him the same treatment as the last few years. Pathan, who has been vocal about his opinion towards Hardik, underlined how the Mumbai Indians captain has under-delivered for India in the recent past. Hardik Pandya has faced fresh criticism from Irfan Pandya. (Getty)

Hardik, who last played for India in their 2023 World Cup match against Bangladesh was sidelined due to an ankle injury, missing the home series against Australia and the tour of South Africa. Hardik later revealed that although he retained fitness in January, the reason he didn't return was because there were 'no games to play'. Hardik finally made his comeback to competitive cricket at the DY Patil Tournament before embarking on his IPL 2024 journey as captain of the Mumbai Indians.

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In a brutal assessment, Pathan feels the board needs to take into consideration that Pathan's impact has been a bare minimum and the fact that a World Cup win continues to elude the Men in Blue.

"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. 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," Pathan said on Star Sports Press Room Show.

Hardik needs to stop picking and choosing, adds Pathan

Injuries have had a rough role to play in Hardik's career. It's one of the reasons why the India all-rounder has unofficially retired from Tests. His body simply cannot handle the rigours of all three formats. Besides, since his comeback from injury in early 2022, Hardik had been bowling full tilt, often cranking up speeds in the late 130s and even 140 clicks, to become the team's sixth bowling option. He also captained India in T20Is for over a year since the 2022 T20 World Cup.

But more importantly, Pathan wants Pandya to be freed of the liberty to pick and choose series and tournaments. Ahead of the start of the IPL, when the board terminated Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan's central contracts, reports suggested that Hardik was initially expected to be subjected to the same treatment before the all-rounder promised to make himself available for domestic tournaments outside of the packed Indian cricketing calendar. Pathan insisted that a successful team comprises multiple contributors and not one, linking it to Australia's accomplished success.

"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," pointed Pathan.

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