WATCH: Mohammed Shami makes blunt statement on Hardik Pandya leaving Gujarat Titans and joining Mumbai Indians

The veteran Indian pacer Mohammed Shami came up with a big statement on being asked about Hardik Pandya’s departure from Gujarat Titans around the IPL 2024 mini-auction. Notably, the star Indian all-rounder was picked by the five-time champions Mumbai Indians in an all-cash trade with Gujarat Titans.

A lot of cricket fans and experts came up with various opinions on this move; apart from that, the appointment of Hardik Pandya as MI’s skipper didn’t go down well with a big section of Indian cricket fans.

In the same line of events, the star of India’s ODI World Cup 2023, Mohammed Shami didn’t shy from expressing his opinion bluntly when he was asked a question on the same issue.

“Gujarat didn’t sign him for the lifetime” – Mohammed Shami about Hardik Pandya

“There will be a new captain, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya has left, he will not be the captain of GT anymore, what do you think about this?” asked a journalist to Shami.

“Dekhiye kisi ke jaane se kisi ko farq nhi padta, team ka balance dekha jaata hai. Hardik raha usne achhi captaincy kee donon baar final mein pahuche, ek baar jeete bhi. Gujart ne koi use lifetime to Rakha nahi tha. Uska mann tha wo chala gaya hai, ab Shubman aaya hai aur kal ko wo bhi kahin chala jayega, ye sab part of the game hai (See, anyone’s departure has no impact on anyone, you have to look at the balance of the team, Hardik was there, he did good captaincy, we made it to two successive finals, won one of them; Gujarat didn’t sign him for the lifetime, he wanted to go so he left. Now Shubman is there as captain, he will also go somewhere in future, all this is just a part of the game,” said Shami.

The video of Shami’s statement is also making rounds on social media as soon as it was shared by a user over X (formerly Twitter).

Here’s a look at the video of Mohammed Shami speaking about Hardik Pandya:

Mohammed Shami reacts to Hardik Pandya leaving Gujarat Titans 😂 pic.twitter.com/lBALRQmI3y

— Sameer Allana (@HitmanCricket) January 16, 2024

Full statement: "Kisi ko kisi ke jaane se farak nahi padta. (No one cares about whoever is leaving) Hardik wasn't tied up to Gujarat for lifetime. He wanted to leave and he left. As a captain he was good, We made it to the final last year, won it in 2022."

— Sameer Allana (@HitmanCricket) January 16, 2024