Hardik Pandya Vacations Amid Natasa Stankovic Divorce Rumors, Set to Join India T20 WC Squad in New York

Hardik Pandya Vacations Amid Natasa Stankovic Divorce Rumors, Set to Join India T20 WC Squad in New York

More than just Virat Kohli, there were others who did not board the Saturday flight from Mumbai to New York for the T20 World Cup, where Rohit Sharma was leading along with some Indian players and coaching staff, beginning on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies. Hardik Pandya, the captain of Mumbai Indians, had a terrible IPL season, performing poorly as both a leader and player, and was also missing.

As per a report in Cricbuzz on Sunday, Hardik, who is dealing with personal struggles amid rumors of splitting with wife Natasa Stankovic, is presently holidaying in a secret location abroad. After Mumbai’s disappointing IPL season ended with a second last-place finish in three years, he left the country. The report also mentioned that the all-rounder, who will assist Rohit in the upcoming ICC tournament, will go straight to New York to join the Indian team for the T20 World Cup.

Though the precise time of Hardik’s flight to New York is unknown, the source states that he would arrive in time for India’s first practise.

As for the other players, they will depart for New York later, including Rinku Singh of the Kolkata Knight Riders, who played in Sunday’s IPL final, and Sanju Samson of the Rajasthan Royals, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Avesh Khan, who all participated in the Qualifier 2 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 25 in Chennai.

After leaving on Saturday night, the remaining team members—Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and replacements Shubman Gill and Khaleel Ahmed—arrived in New York on Sunday night.

As per a report published on Sunday, Kohli did not travel with the team since he requested an extension of his leave from the BCCI following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s elimination in the IPL 2024 Eliminator match last week. On the other hand, the former captain of India won the Orange Cap after making 741 runs at a strike rate exceeding 154 and an average of 61.75 in 15 matches. There are 105 fifty runs in the run total. He was the leading run scorer in an IPL season for the second time with this win. His record-breaking 973 runs in 2016 allowed him to win the trophy for the first time.

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In 2007, Team India, the champions of the first T20 World Cup held in South Africa, will kick off their journey against Ireland on June 5 at the newly built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, followed by a match against Pakistan on June 9 at the same location. Matches against co-hosts USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15) will follow as part of their Group-A ties.

India will play a warm-up match against Bangladesh in New York on June 1 ahead of their season start.