"He showed his desire to go back there" - Ashish Nehra opens up on Hardik Pandya's trade to Mumbai Indians

Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra revealed that Hardik Pandya expressed his desire to return to the Mumbai Indians (MI), leading to them trading the all-rounder.

The IPL world turned upside down when Hardik was traded in an all-cash deal to his former franchise. The star all-rounder began his IPL career with MI and represented the franchise from 2015 to 2021, helping them win four titles in that period.

Speaking to JioCinema after the 2024 IPL auction, Nehra admitted replacing a player of Hardik's caliber is nearly impossible but wanted the Gujarat-born cricketer to be happy.

"Hardik Pandya has not gone back to a team that has caused a huge surprise," Ashish Nehra said. "He played for that team for so many years, he showed his desire to go back there. Our management's nature is such that, we think if a player wants to go there, right.

"He should be happy and that's why he has gone there again. Replacing someone like Hardik Pandya is difficult, but we tried our best."

Hardik Pandya achieved tremendous success with GT, captaining the side to the title in their maiden IPL appearance in 2022.

The side missed out on defending their title under his leadership by the barest of margins, losing a last-ball thriller in the grand finale to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) this year.

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"It will be difficult to make up for somebody like Hardik" - Ashish Nehra

GT made some shrewd buys to replace Hardik in the 2024 IPL auction.

Ashish Nehra admitted the difficulty in replacing an all-rounder like Hardik Pandya but expressed delight at GT's buys in the 2024 IPL auction.

The franchise acquired the impressive Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai for only ₹50 Lakh and strengthened their middle-order batting further with the Shahrukh Khan buy for ₹7.40 crore.

"Having the size of 25 members is a luxury. We got a great all-rounder like Omarzai, we also got Shahrukh Khan. But it will be difficult to make up for somebody like Hardik who has that much talent and that much experience. It is what it is. With the resources we have, we will try and do our best," Nehra said.

Nehra added:

"I don't think you can find a replacement for somebody like Hardik Pandya that easily. Here you are talking about all-rounder, Shahrukh Khan is a pure batter. We wanted one more batter to back up. You have to remember that IPL has a squad of 25. You have the option to look for backups."

The Gujarat Titans also bolstered their pace bowling by adding Umesh Yadav (₹5.80 crore), Kartik Tyagi (₹60 lakh), and Spencer Johnson (₹10 crore), among others.

The franchise appointed Shubman Gill as their captain for the next season following the Hardik Pandya trade.