'India Should Not Give Hardik Pandya That Much Priority': Irfan's harsh take on Star All-rounder

Even as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 fever has swept the entire country, supporters are looking forward to India's squad for the T20 World Cup 2024, which will begin shortly after the league. The competition will take place in the United States and the Caribbean Islands, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to announce the squad in the coming days.

Days before India's team selection, the ex-India all-rounder Irfan Pathan shared his views about Hardik Pandya's form and captaincy. He believes that the Indian cricket board should not prioritize Hardik as much as it does now. Notably, Hardik had an injury during the ODI World Cup 2023, ruling him out of the tournament. The IPL 2024 is his first high-pressure competitive competition since then for him.

'Hardik Pandya Hasn't Made Impact As An All-Rounder At International Level': Pathan

While interacting with the media on the Star Sports Press Room, Pathan also said that Hardik is yet to make an impact as an all-rounder at the international level.

What I feel about Hardik Pandya is that Indian cricket needs to make it clear that they should not give him as 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 told the media in a conference that ABP Live also attended in the Star Sports Press Room

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.
~he added

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 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 a big tournament. ~he said