About a month ago, when the Indian cricket team won the title of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, Hardik Pandya was the vice-captain of that team India. However, after the departure of Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir becoming the new head coach of Team India, Hardik has lost the captaincy of the T20 format.

The Indian cricket team management has shown faith in experienced Suryakumar Yadav instead of Hardik Pandya, which is considered to be the beginning of a new era for Surya and Gambhir. Along with this, the responsibility of vice-captaincy has been handed over to young Shubman Gill.

So, when Mumbai Indians made Hardik Pandya the captain in place of Rohit Sharma in a dramatic manner before the start of IPL 2024, it was not liked not only by cricket experts but also by MI fans. Whenever Hardik came to the field to toss or bat, he had to face boos.

So Mumbai Indians could not do anything special under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya and finished the tournament at number 10. On the other hand, now Hardik Pandya will be seen playing on India’s tour of Sri Lanka from July 27. But before the start of this tour of Team India, a big statement of former Sri Lankan cricketer Russell Arnold has come to the fore.

Russell Arnold made a big statement

Let us tell you that before India’s tour against Sri Lanka started, Russell Arnold, as quoted by Sports Tak, said – Both (Surya and Hardik) are exceptional players. They bring different things to the team. Suryakumar Yadav is one of the best T20 batsmen. The way he plays, it seems that no one reads the game better than him.

Arnold further said- Hardik has also shown these things. But I think that after the way his IPL 2024 went, he has not been able to get the kind of respect in Team India, which BCCI must have thought about him at one time.