India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been all over social media once again after the BCCI announced a whopping ₹125 crore prize money for the T20 World Cup-winning players and support staff on Monday.
Pandya starred with 3 wickets in the final as India defeated South Africa by 7 runs to clinch their second T20 World Cup title after 2007.
Rohit Sharma's victorious Indian team received a ₹20 crore cheque from the International Cricket Council after which the BCCI announced its own cash prize for the Men in Blue. The amount to be distributed by the Indian board is over 6 times that given by the ICC.
And almost immediately, social media was abuzz with the news. A section of fans started trolling Pandya by circulating a meme which is connected to the rumours of his divorce with wife Natasa Stankovic.
The meme shows Pandya telling BCCI secretary Jay Shah to transfer his World Cup prize money into his mother's account to safeguard it from his wife.
Trouble in paradise?
There were reports last month that all is not well between the couple after Natasa allegedly removed Pandya from her surname. Both Pandya and Natasa have not addressed any of these rumours so far.
It was also being speculated that Natasa will take 70% of Pandya's wealth in case of a divorce, after which a video of the cricketer stating that his mother handles all his finances went viral on social media.
Natasa remains silent on India's T20 WC win
The Serbian actress added fuel to fire by not posting anything about the Indian team's triumph in the West Indies, nor did she congratulate her husband for his match-winning performance in the summit clash. She also chose to stay back home in Mumbai with her son, rather than travel to the West Indies to cheer for Pandya and the Indian team like Ritika Sajdeh (Rohit Sharma's wife) and Devisha Shetty (Suryakumar Yadav's wife).
But she did unarchive all her wedding photos with Pandya after the rumours started. A media channel was claiming that Natasa had removed all her pictures with her husband, which turned out to be untrue.
Indian team stranded in Barbados
Pandya is currently stranded in Barbados with the rest of the Indian team and support staff due to Hurricane Beryl. The squad and coaching staff had to remain in their hotel rooms for an extra day as all flights were cancelled from the Caribbean city.
The players and coaches are expected to take a charter flight from Barbados for New Delhi on Tuesday night. The contingent is expected to leave Bridgetown at 6pm (local time) and land in Delhi on Wednesday at 7.45pm (IST), according to PTI sources. The players will be later felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital, but the schedule of that event has not yet been finalised.
