'There was someone who spread negativity': Praveen Kumar accuses senior player of tarnishing his image

Praveen Kumar was once one of the most sought after Indian pacers of his generation. Having made his senior India debut in an ODI against Pakistan in Jaipur in 2007, Praveen has gone onto represent his country in 68 ODIs, six Tests and 10 T20Is. He has shared the Indian dressing room with the likes of S Srreshanth, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh, and was an established pacer who could swing the ball both ways.

However, Praveen has had his fair share of struggles with injuries and controversies. While Praveen was selected in India’s squad for the 2011 ODI World Cup, which they would go onto win, his participation in the tournament was overshadowed by a bout of dengue as well as an elbow injury, which ruled him out of the showpiece event at home.

This meant that Praveen fell out of favour in 2012, and his international career came to an abrupt end. Praveen would go onto announce retirement from all forms of cricket in 2018, after turning up for Uttar Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that year.

The 37-year-old was also in the centre of controversy after his reputation was tarnished by a senior player who accused him of consuming alcohol. Praveen’s argument, however, was that he wasn’t the only player who consumed alcohol and there were other players as well.

“When I joined the Indian team, a few senior players asked me to stop drinking and avoid a few other things. However, everyone consumed alcohol but still maligned my name. While many senior players treated us youngsters very well, there was someone who spread negativity around my name. I don’t want to name that person on camera, but everybody knows who ruined my image,” Praveen said on The Lallantop Show.

Due to his alleged consumption of alcohol, Praveen said that he was disappointed with the way he was overlooked as a coach for various teams, including his domestic team Uttar Pradesh.

“In 2018, I had expected that one of the IPL franchises would sign me as a bowling coach. Forget that; even my own Uttar Pradesh team did not call me to work with the Ranji team. The only reason they had was that I used to drink alcohol. But did I drink on the ground or open the bottle in the dressing room?”

Praveen also revealed that he went into depression and was “disheartened” by the lack of support from people.

“I went into depression. I used to stare at the fan for close to five hours. I was very disheartened to see that nobody was calling me, even after achieving so many things in my career. I went to Haridwar for a few days,” said the Meerut-born former cricketer.