Hardik Pandya reveals mental toll after suspension in 2019: ‘People said I am done’

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has finally opened up about his ordeal after he was suspended from playing cricket by the BCCI for comments he made on a talk show in 2019. Hardik, along with his Team India teammate KL Rahul, was handed a suspension and was called back mid-tour from Australia. Hardik, while speaking to ESPNcricinfo about the incident, said a lot of cricketers at the time thought his career was over and that he won't be able to cope with it. However, Hardik bounced back stronger and regained his spot in the national squad.

"When I heard I was going to get suspended, a lot of cricketers who knew me personally, who knew what kind of an individual I am, they went out and spoke about it, which is fine. They thought I was done. I heard lots of people saying, 'Hardik's done, he won't be able to cope with this.' Because I was the bad boy of Indian cricket at that time," Hardik was quoted as saying to the cricket news website by ANI. 

"At the Chinnaswamy (Bengaluru), while practising, I was missing the ball by this much (shows a wide gap). Because when this is not right (points to head) and when you question yourself, things just go wrong. That day I cried during training because there was a lot of emotion. Because of how I was portrayed (after the talk-show incident). I was never that individual. I was not able to concentrate on my sport because there was a lot of expectation from myself, leave anyone else," Hardik said in his interview. 

Hardik is now a part of India's T20 World Cup squad. The 28-year-old is expected to play the role of an all-rounder, however, he may also start as a pure batsman given his injury that has prevented him from bowling in a competitive match in the recent past. Hardik did not bowl for his IPL side Mumbai Indians in the recently-concluded edition of the cash-rich league. It is not yet known if he will bowl for India in the T20 World Cup. 

India in T20 World Cup

India's T20 World Cup campaign is scheduled to start on October 24 against Pakistan. India has already announced a 15-member squad for the marquee ICC event with Virat Kohli as captain. This will be Kohli's last T20 World Cup as captain of the Indian side as he has announced that he will step down from the role after the tournament is over. 

India's squad for T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah. Travelling reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar. 

(Image: PTI)