Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya's divorce rumours with his wife Natasa Stankovic, has been the talk of the town off late. Reports suggest that the Serbian model will be claiming 70% of the cricketer's property as a part of their legal settlement. (More Cricket News)
However, the speculations to these rumours grew even more when Pandya was absent from the Indian cricket team's departure to the USA for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. The MI captain was not present from the first batch of cricketers who travelled for the ICC event starting next month.
Other cricketers who have travelled were Indian captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill among others. Other players in the travelling contingent include Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel among others.
Few players, including star batter Virat Kohli, who are part of the IPL teams which reached the playoffs, are yet to leave for the T20 showpiece.
Speaking on Pandya, he was expected to leave with the team as all-rounder is the vice-captain of T20 side and with the likes of head coach Rahul Dravid, captain Rohit Sharma, batting coach Vikram Rathour being around; it was expected that Pandya would fly out too.
His absence though coincides with his rumoured divorce to Natasa. The Serbian model wrote a cryptic post on Instagram with the caption - Someone is about to get on the streets."
The T20 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the USA and the West Indies from June 2 to June 29.
The Indian cricket team will begin its campaign against Ireland on June 5 at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
India will face Pakistan on June 9, followed by matches against co-hosts USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15) in their Group A matches.
(With PTI inputs)
