Hardik's move to MI criticized by Ex-KKR director, drawing parallels to Jadeja's ban

Hardik Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians on Sunday after spending two years at Gujarat Titans, where he guided the franchise to a title success as captain in 2022 before finishing as runner-up in 2023. Given what Hardik had accomplished in Gujarat, it was one of the more surprise trade moves before an IPL auction, and it later saw him emerge as a captaincy possibility for India in white-ball cricket as well. While Mumbai Indians fans were emotional after the huge announcement, with Ravichandran Ashwin declaring "MI struck gold," a former Kolkata Knight Riders director slammed the decision, citing what Ravindra Jadeja had experienced in 2010.

3 things you need to know

• Hardik Pandya has completed a return move to Mumbai Indians
• Pandya captained Gujarat Titans for two years 
• Gujarat won the IPL title under Pandya's leadership in 2022

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Ravindra Jadeja was in a Hardik Pandya-like situation before

13 years ago, then-rising sensation Jadeja was banned from the IPL for an entire season after failing to sign his renewal contract with the Rajasthan Royals while negotiating a deal with the Mumbai Indians. IPL reacted harshly because the act violated the tournament's trade and operating rules.

Speaking on Oaktree Sports' YouTube show on the IPL 2024 retentions, former KKR director Joy Bhattacharjya reminisced about that Jadeja incident before reckoning that Hardik's act is not an ideal precedent for the league. He fears that this might soon become a trend in IPL and that franchises should stop entertaining these.

“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 doesn'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 realise 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,” he said.

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All parties in complete agreement

Bhattacharjya also said that Gujarat had no choice but to allow Hardik to return to Mumbai once it was proven that this was also what the player desired.

“Gujarat had two options. They could have allowed him to leave, make some money out of trade and get some money for the organisation 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.” he added.