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IPL 2024: Sunil Gavaskar gives his take on Hardik Pandya’s controversial return to Mumbai Indians
The last few weeks Mumbai Indians and Hardik Pandya have hogged the headlines as far as IPL 2024 is concerned. On the 26th of November, news was confirmed that Mumbai Indians had conducted a successful trade with Gujarat Titans for the Indian star.
Since his come back to the team, Hardik Pandya has been doused with controversy. Last Friday, the 30-year-old was named the new skipper of the side. Rohit Sharma’s sudden removal has seen huge outrage amongst the fan base.
Former Indian legend, Sunil Gavaskar has given his take on the entire situation. The 74-year-old has written the likely reason for Hardik Pandya’s return to the five-time champions. The legendary batter is a regular contributor with leading tabloid Mid-Day where he assessed the reason behind the controversial move.
Sunil Gavaskar’s take on Hardik Pandya’s return to MI
Sunil Gavaskar recently penned down his thoughts on Hardik Pandya coming back to Mumbai Indians. The Indian star was released by the franchise after IPL 2021 season ended. After moving to Gujarat Titans, Hardik Pandya moulded the newest team into one of the better-performing sides.
Under his captaincy, Gujarat Titans won the IPL title in their very first season in 2022. Last year, the defending champions reached the finals but lost to MS Dhoni-led CSK in the finals. In the interim, Hardik Pandya was also given the Indian T20I captaincy in the absence of Rohit Sharma after the 2022 T20I World Cup.
The former India skipper wrote this on Mid-Day “Rumors were floating around Hardik Pandya being traded to Mumbai Indians. That came as a bit of shock since Pandya had not only led the Gujarat Titans team to two back-to-back finals, winning once, but he also seemed well-settled there. Or so it seemed. When a successful captain wants to leave a successful franchise, then the reasons are beyond common fan’s thinking”
The 74-year-old continued “Pandya had been picked by Mumbai Indians as a raw talent, and he has now become one of the biggest names not just in Indian cricket but also in world cricket”.
Crediting the MI atmosphere and calling it ‘Family Like’, Sunil Gavaskar ended the piece when he wrote “There’s plenty of speculation still going on as to why he wants to leave and go back to where he started. Pandya has never made a secret of the fact that he considers MI as his home. It tells you of the wonderful family atmosphere that the team has created where even those who have left have nothing but good things to say about the team”