‘Was considering joining them’ – Hardik Pandya drops stunning revelations on how he ended up at GT

Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra combined well together as a captain coach duo to hand Gujarat Titans their first IPL title last year. The likes of David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan and Wriddhiman Saha played out of their skin to hand GT the championship. Another difference was Hardik Pandya captaining the side. After IPL 2022, India got a taste of what Hardik could offer as a leader as well.

In Gaurav Kapur’s podcast, GK meets GT, Pandya opened up about how he changed bases and ended up at GT in the IPL 2022 mega auction.

“I did get a call from the other franchise (Lucknow Super Giants) as well, which was a new franchise in IPL. Someone who I knew (KL Rahul) was leading the team. For me, it was very important, considering the stage at which I was, where I really wanted to play with a person who has known me,” Pandya said. Since he had a great equation with KL Rahul he said he was keen to join LSG.

I will be coach of GT, I would like you to captain the side – Ashish Nehra

But then, he revealed that one phone call with Ashish Nehra changed it all.

“But then Ashu pa called me. At that time, the team also didn’t have the permission to be part of the IPL. It was very haywire, things weren’t even settled. He said, ‘I’m going to be the coach. It isn’t fixed yet, but I will be coach’. I was like, ‘Ashu pa, if you weren’t there, I wouldn’t have even considered this because you’re saying this… I’ve always felt you are one person who has understood what I am’,” Hardik added.

Pandya then went on to elucidate how GT coach Nehra brought out a different dimension of Pandya which was unknown to him. In the conversation that the duo had Nehra revealed to Pandya that he wanted him to captain the GT side.

Pandya said he was surprised when Nehra made him the offer of captaincy. All this was going on the sidelines before no plans had been finalised. But the change definitely benefitted Indian cricket and it was there for everyone to see. GT have done well in the 2023 IPL so far with three wins from four games.