Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team director Joy Bhattacharjya was not pleased with Indian cricket team all-rounder Hardik Pandya's sensational move from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. In a recent interaction, Bhattacharja cited the example of Ravindra Jadeja getting banned during the 2010 season for not signing a renewal with Rajasthan Royals and trying to force a move to Mumbai Indians. He went on to say that a move like this can be bad for the tournament and it is dangerous to encourage this trend as it can set a damaging precedent for the future.
“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 on Oaktree Sports YouTube channel.
He also explained that Gujarat Titans possibly did not have any other choice than to let Hardik leave for Mumbai Indians as that was the decision taken by the player himself.
“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.