Former Kolkata Knight Riders director of cricket Joy Bhattacharjya expressed disappointment with Hardik Pandya’s decision to join Mumbai Indians after leading Gujarat Titans for two years, including a title-winning campaign in 2022. T
The star Indian all-rounder expressed his interest to return to his first IPL team in a dramatic manner and after the transfer deadline was closed, both teams agreed to the deal. Despite leading the team for the last two seasons, Pandya expressed his wish to move to his home franchise.
With the saga coming to an end, Hardik Pandya is all set to start a new journey in his IPL career. After enjoying two highly successful seasons with Gujarat Titans, he is back in the team where he began his IPL journey in 2015, spending seven seasons with them before being released.
Speaking on Oaktree Sports’ YouTube show on the IPL 2024, Joy Bhattacharjya brought up the Ravindra Jadeja incident that happened in 2010 before deciding that Hardik’s actions established a bad precedent for the league. and admitted that he is worried that this may become a pattern in the IPL and that franchises would stop indulging in it.
“I do not think it is a great idea for the tournament because something similar almost happened in 2010. Ravindra Jadeja did not play a particular season because he wanted to move on and the franchise had signed him. He had said that he didn’t want to play for Rajasthan Royals anymore and so was banned for a year because they said that you cannot break the system”.
“If a player suddenly says that take me from the auction but I do not want to play for you…and once you start encouraging this trend then it will not be a good idea to go down that road. That is why it was stopped in 2010. But in 2023, you have allowed this to happen with a big player. The truth of this is once you start allowing it, players will realize that if they can kick up enough of a fuss, the franchise will leave them…I don’t think this is a good precedent for the league,” Joy Bhattacharjya said.
With the saga coming to an end, Hardik Pandya is all set to start a new journey in his IPL career. After enjoying two highly successful seasons with Gujarat Titans, he is back in the team where he began his IPL journey in 2015, spending seven seasons with them winning multiple titles before being released.
In seven seasons with Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya won an impressive four IPL titles. He will now be hoping that his second stint with the franchise turns out to be as successful.