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Hardik Pandya Captaincy Dream Shattered. Hardik Pandya is facing tough time in his life. The rumours about his divorce, which had been circulating for 2-3 months, has been confirmed. And his setback is further increased with loss of his Indian team captaincy. In recent years, we had seen Hardik Pandya as the vice-captain, with everyone expecting him to be the next captain. However, his vice-captaincy did not lead him to the position of captain of Team India.
Hardik Pandya Captaincy
Following Hardik Pandya’s outstanding performance in the ICC T20 Word Cup, Indians were expecting him to be the next captain. However, it was announced that Surya Kumar Yadav is going to lead the upcoming Sri Lanka series with Shubman Gill as the India’s vice-captain.
If we closely look at Hardik Pandya Captaincy in the recent IPL tournaments, we would come to know what a phenomenal role he has played for his team. Like in 2022, the IPL trophy was won by Gujarat Titans under the Captaincy of Hardik Pandya, and the same consistent captaincy in 2023’s IPL led his team(Gujarat Titans) into the finals, and seeing his outstanding performance and captaincy the Mumbai Indian’s brought him back in 2024 from Gujarat Titan and made him their new captain, replacing Rohit Sharma.
Past Injury and Endurance challenges
History of injuries have been a recurring issue for Hardik Pandya. Just 9 months back, on 19th October 2023 he had sustained ankle injury against Bangladesh. He twisted his ankle while trying to stop a shot during his bowling follow-through, and this kept him out from the World Cup.
Despite several Injuries he performed fabulous in T20Is, but his stamina is not fully tested for the long formats as he bowls only 4 overs per match, this is the reason the selectors are not nominating him as the captain, a BCCI source told Times of India.
Although Hardik has excelled in T20 cricket, where his role involves bowling just four overs, his performance in longer formats remains unproven. His endurance will be closely monitored, and the selectors will evaluate how he performs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the end of the year.
Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar explanation
Ajit Agarkar, the chief selectors of the BCCI, explained why Suryakumar Yadav was chosen as India’s new T20I captain instead of Hardik Pandya. Agarkar stated that Hardik is an important player, and we’ve seen his performance in the World Cup, but his ongoing fitness issues played a significant role in the decision.
Agarkar said, “This makes it challenging for the coach and selectors. We need someone who can be consistently available”. The BCCI has appointed Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20 captain with an eye on the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Genuine Personal Issues or a Strategic Choice?
After the winning performance in T20Is Hardik had requested to take a pause from the ODI series against Sri Lanka citing his personal issues, this adds more complexity to the situation whether it a strategic choice or a genuine personal issues. Could this be a strategic decision to concentrate on regaining his fitness and form, or does it hints to the upcoming challenges in securing his position back?
To closely answer all these questions we have to get a closer look to his personal life. We all know that he is going through a challenging time as Hardik Pandya and Natasa had announced their separation.
Relationship Dynamics of Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic
Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic have not provided specific reasons for their separation. We have observed Natasa’s absence in the 2024 IPL, wherein earlier she was seen supporting Hardik Pandya in most of his matches, notably Natasa’s absence in IPL 2024 drew media’s attention. Then she removed the Pandya surname form her Instagram Handle and had stopped mentioning Hardik in special occasions as well, this resulted in Hardik Pandya divorce rumours to get its peak.
Inspite of all these rumours getting spread, Natasa had maintained the cordial relation with Hardik Pandya’s family, she also congratulated Krunal Pandya and his wife Pankhuri Sharma on the birth of their second child, this shows that she had maintained strong relations with his family.
According to the sources both Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic had few past relationships before getting together. Pandya was rumoured to be involved with various Bollywood actresses which includes Urvashi Rautela and Elli AvrRam. Meanwhile, Natasa Stankovic was previously known for her relationship with actor Aly Goni, which was featured on the reality show Nach Baliye.
With the confirmation of Hardik and Natasa’s separation, Natasa had to face a wave of negative comments and hate online, as people questioned her as a gold digger who would eventually capture 70% of Pandya’s wealth post their separation.
Despite the conflict, Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic are both committed in prioritizing their son future and trying to maintaining a respectful co-parenting relationship. While their separation marks the end of a significant chapter in their lives.
With this we can say, currently Hardik and Natasa both are facing challenging time so this might not be a strategic choice for Hardik Pandya, also he is working on his start of the clothing Brand, so all these can be the actual genuine reasons for Pandya to take a break from the ODI Sri Lanka series.
New Indian Team Coach Gautam Gambhir reply!
Gautam Gambhir also explained their decision to choose Surya Kumar Yadav as captain instead of Hardik Pandya. He noted that in the 2022 IPL, Hardik Pandya led his team to the trophy under the guidance of cricketer Ashish Nehra, but when the similar support was not available in 2024, he could not achieve the same level of excellence when he played as a captain for Mumbai Indians under the guidance of coach Mark Boucher.
Despite the support from coach Boucher, Hardik faced several difficulties, including negative crowd reactions and media speculation. Gambhir further added that we had seen Hardik as captain in three ODIs and 16 T20Is when Rohit was absent. For Surya Kumar Yadav, this will be his first captaincy assignment for the T20I series against Sri Lanka on July 27, 28, and 30.
