• Home
  • Who Said What
  • Mind Gets Tired Hardik Pandya Amid Divorce With Natasa And Losing T20i Captaincy To Suryakumar

‘Mind Gets Tired…,’ Hardik Pandya Amid  Divorce With Natasa And Losing T20I Captaincy To Suryakumar

Hardik Pandya celebrating India's T20 World Cup 2024 win (BCCI)Hardik Pandya celebrating India's T20 World Cup 2024 win (BCCI)

It has been a rollercoaster month for Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya. A couple of weeks after starring in India’s 2024 T20 World Cup win in the West Indies, several emerging reports indicated his separation with wife Natasa Stankovic. Their separation eventually became official on July 18.

The following day, the cricketer lost out India’s T20I captaincy to teammate Suryakumar Yadav under the new regime of head coach Gautam Gambhir.

On July 20, amidst all the drama, Hardik Pandya sported a pleasant smile while launching his sports apparel brand. The all-rounder also spoke in length about his fitness, and how he tends to push himself at times for Team India.

Hardik prioritizes fitness amidst off-field drama

As quoted by the PTI during the launch of his sports apparel brand, Hardik Pandya spoke in length about fatigue and mental fitness. Roughly a week prior to India’s white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, Pandya claimed that he tends to push his limits so that he has “extra effort” even when his “mind gets tired”. He said:

"When our body does not get tired, our mind gets tired. So, so many times in my life, the difference between when I was able to push my limits was always the fact that when my mind gets tired, I will tell my body to just push because you will always have extra effort in your body. The difference between, if you do 20 and if I do 20, we are on the same level. But if I push to 25 and if I challenge my mindset, next time I'm going to do 25, next time I'm going to do 30.”

Hardik Pandya is set to travel to Sri Lanka for India’s upcoming three-match T20I series. While the cricketer was initially touted to become India’s captain for the tour, Suryakumar Yadav was appointed as Rohit Sharma’s T20I successor instead by the newly-appointed Gautam Gambhir’s team management.

The first T20I of the series will be played on July 27 in Pallekele. The subsequent two matches will be hosted by the same venue on July 28 and July 30.