Hardik Pandya stunned everyone when he decided to leave Gujarat Titans for Mumbai Indians. He was GT’s captain and had led them to their maiden IPL title in 2022. The franchise made it to their second consecutive final but lost to Chennai Super Kings in 2023. Hardik, who started his IPL career with MI, decided to return to his old team for IPL 2024. It is still a topic of discussion in the lead up to the 17th season of the tournament.
Gujarat Titans’ head coach Ashish Nehra has opened up on Hardik’s sudden departure from the franchise. He also warned IPL teams to be ready for such transfers in the near future.
Hardik wasn’t retained by Mumbai ahead of the 2022 season and he was signed by Gujarat Titans for Rs. 15 crore.
Speaking ahead of the start of the season, Nehra said that he didn’t ask Hardik to stay back, knowing he was returning to Mumbai Indians. Nehra added that he would have convinced him to remain with Gujarat had it been any other team.
“I never tried to convince Pandya to remain with Gujarat Titans. I could have stopped him had he made a move to any other franchise. He was with us for two seasons but he has gone back to a team, where has played for 5-6 years,” Ashish Nehra said.
Nehra also warned the other franchises that the league will see football like transfers in the future given the direction in which cricket is heading.
“Cricket will see football like transfers in the near future. It is a new challenge for Hardik Pandya and may be he will learn something new and we wish him all the best,” he added.
Mumbai Indians removed Rohit Sharma from captaincy and gave the responsibility to Hardik Pandya. MI will face Gujarat Titans in their opening match on March 24 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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