Former Indian fast bowler Praveen Kumar, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2018, has once again grabbed headlines for his off-field actions as he revealed in an interview that every player in the Indian dressing room used to drink alcohol.
Kumar, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, made his debut for India in 2007 at the age of 21 in an ODI against Pakistan.
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He played his last game for India in 2012 after injury problems and temperamental issues caused him to be dropped from the side.
Now, though, almost 12 years after he last played for India, Kumar has revealed a lot of things about the Indian team, one of them being the players' alcohol consumption.
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What did Praveen Kumar say about the players' drinking habits?
In an interview with The Lallantop journalist Saurabh Dwivedi, Kumar touched upon a lot of topics.
Dwivedi asked the player about the rumours that made the rounds when he was representing India, which claimed that the pacer had a bad habit of consuming alcohol.
Here's what Kumar said in response:
When I was in the Indian team, seniors said 'drink nahi karna, yeh nahi karna, woh nahi karna' (Don't drink, don't do this, don't do that). Karte sab hai. Lekin wohi wali baat hai na ki badnaam kar dete hai 'PK toh drink karta hai'. Sab peete hai (Everybody does it but they tarnished me by saying I drink alcohol).
Dwivedi went further and asked the 37-year-old if senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid used to give such advices. Here's what Kumar said:
No, no no. It's like seniors always treated us youngsters as youngsters. But the thing about tarnishing my image. Naam nahi lena chahta camera pe (I don't want to take any names on camera). But everyone knows who tarnished my image. My impression was such that I always used to fight, always used to drink. But it was all a big misunderstanding. Those who me personally know what I am like.
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