Former KKR director Joy Bhattacharjya lashed out at Hardik Pandya for leaving the Gujarat Titans (GT) for his first franchise, the Mumbai Indians (MI), ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Gujarat Titans (GT) revealed that Hardik wanted to rejoin Mumbai Indians (MI), and that’s why they let their former skipper go ahead with the IPL 2024 mini-auction to be held in Dubai on December 19. The MI traded Pandya for INR 15 crore from GT with undisclosed transfer fees.
After the much-hyped trade, Bhattacharjya said that Pandya’s trade was not a good precedent for the IPL, and if the franchises do not stop doing such things, it will become a trend. He also recalled Ravindra Jadeja’s incident when the all-rounder was banned for one season, 13 years ago.
Jadeja faced a ban from the IPL for an entire season after he refused to sign a renewal contract with the Rajasthan Royals, opting to negotiate a deal with the Mumbai Indians (MI). With the act falling against the tournament's trading and operational rules, IPL reacted with severe punishment.
As reported by Hindustan Times, Joy Bhattacharjya said: “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.”
He added, “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.”
Bhattacharjya signed off by saying, “Gujarat had two options. They could have allowed him to leave, make some money out of trade, and get some money for the organization which is enough to retain another big-name player. The other option is with Hardik saying that he wants to leave, I would get one season of mediocre performance from him. Then he will leave and I will get nothing from it. Gujarat hence couldn't have made any other choices given the circumstances.”
