"Krunal Pandya captain.....Deepak Hooda dropped" - Fans hint at personal feud after stand-in skipper's surprising decision
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) faced off against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 45th match of IPL 2023 on Wednesday, May 3, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, Unfortunately, the home team suffered a setback before the contest as KL Rahul was ruled out due to the injury he sustained during their previous match against RCB on Monday. In his absence, Krunal Pandya took over as the captain for today's game against CSK.
CSK captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to field first on a dry surface. After recovering from an injury, Deepak Chahar made a comeback to the playing XI, replacing Akash Singh.
To fill the void left by KL Rahul in the opening slot, LSG brought in Manan Vohra. Additionally, they replaced Deepak Hooda with Karan Sharma in the top order. Hooda's batting form has been lacklustre this season, scoring only 53 runs at an average of 6.63 across nine games.
Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda had a tiff during their stint at Baroda
Fans noted the LSG team management's decision to drop Deepak Hooda from the playing XI and shared their reactions on Twitter. Some speculated that the history between Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda might have played a role in the decision.
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For the unversed, Hooda had left the Baroda Ranji team in 2021 following a spat with Krunal. The former had then accused Krunal of bullying and misbehavior when the unit had assembled for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Hooda moved to Rajasthan to play domestic cricket. However, in the IPL 2022 auction, both Hooda and Krunal were bought by Lucknow Super Giants and had since supposedly buried the hatchet.
Deepak Hooda is dropped just after Krunal Pandya becomes the captain. 💀
— Div🦁| Dube stan (@div_yumm) May 3, 2023
Krunal Pandya captains LSG for the 1st time ever and Deepak Hooda is out of the playing XI immediately
— Mohit Shah (@mohit_shah17) May 3, 2023
Coincidence?#IPL #LSGvCSK
Krunal Pandya becomes skipper >> immediately removes deepak hooda from playing 11.
— आकाशवाणी 🇮🇳 (@aakashvaani_) May 3, 2023
Another personal feud showing up 👀🌝#LSGvCSK #krunalpandya #deepakhooda
The first thing KPtaan Krunal Pandya did is kick out Deepak Hooda, help. 😭
— Titans 12th man (@Oneofthemankind) May 3, 2023
Never thought I would see this day! Krunal Pandya captaining in the IPL. 😂
— Dorendra Bharti (@DorendraBharti) May 3, 2023
Surprisingly Deepak Hooda not only playing with him, but now playing under him.
After Nitish Rana, Krunal Pandya leading his team in the absence of regular skipper.#KrunalPandya #LSGvsCSK #LSGvCSK
Krunal Pandya ke captain bante hi Deepak Hooda bahaar😂😂#LSGvsCSK #MSDhoni𓃵 #KLRahul𓃵
— Prashant💕 (@pra_shant001) May 3, 2023
Krunal Pandya become Captain of #LucknowSuperGiants & Deepak Hooda Out of Playing XI. 🤫🤫
— Kishan Kishor (@itskishankishor) May 3, 2023
Its totally shows enemy with each other.#LSGvsCSK #LSGvCSK #CSKvsLSG #CSKvLSG #IPL2023
Krunal Pandya is captain for today's match & Deepak Hooda is not in Playing 11.#CSKvsLSG #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/hfKrCqBjof
— Rahul Mishra (@mishra_rahul93) May 3, 2023
Krunal pandya appointed as Lucknow captain
— vasanth immanuel (@vasanth51193) May 3, 2023
Deepak Hooda is dropped from playing XI.
Is this two events interconnected or not ?@StarSportsTamil #staraikelungal
Krunal Pandya becomes Captain and drops Deepak Hooda. Nothing personal i suppose 😜
— shreyas bhoyar (@shreyasb1009) May 3, 2023
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