Baroda Cricket Association to not take any action on Krunal Pandya over his spat with Deepak Hooda

Less than 24 hours before the start of their opening game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, the Baroda team was involved in a controversy. The captain Krunal Pandya and vice-captain Deepak Hooda were involved in a heated argument at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara. The fallout between the duo led to Hooda pulling out himself from the whole T20 tournament.

In an email written to the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA), he accused Krunal of abusing him in front of teammates and other team players. He also stated that the Baroda skipper threatened him while also bullying him time and again. BCA then asked the team manager to prepare a report on the incident and has now released a statement stating that the board has nothing to comment on the matter.

In its statement, BCA also called the spat as the assessment from the player in the situation. However, it also said that it fully respects Deepak Hooda’s decision to not play and wish him well. “Baroda Cricket Association has been informed by Deepak Hooda that he will not be able to participate in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament to be held in Baroda. The Institution puts the game above any player and respects his decision to make himself unavailable.

“The speculation of a rift is a personal assessment of the player in the situation and the Institution has no comment to make other than wish him well in his endeavours,” the statement on Twitter read.

I am demoralised, under pressure, wrote Deepak Hooda in his mail to BCA

In an email shot to BCA, Deepak Hooda explained the whole incident while also mentioning that he is demoralised and depressed. “At this moment, I am demoralized, depressed, and under pressure. As from last some days, my team captain Mr Krunal Pandya is using abusive language to me in front of my teammates and also other state teams who have come for participation at Reliance Stadium Vadodara.

“Today I was practising in nets and doing my preparation for tomorrow’s game with the permission of head coach Mr Prabhakar. Then Krunal came in nets (and) started misbehaving with me,” the mail read.