Cricket Latest News: Arriving late from Dubai after a dismal campaign at the T20 World Cup 2021, Hardik Pandya found himself in a bit of trouble with the customs department at CSMI airport in Mumbai on Sunday.

The India all-rounder has been in the news for a while, but primarily for cricketing reasons. Be it his form for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 or for the Indian team in T20 World Cup 2021, Hardik has been a huge subject of debate. But now, the 28-year-old has found himself making headlines for a personal reason.

Also Read: Top 8 run-scorers of T20 World Cup 2021

As per ar report by the Times of India, Hardik was carrying a couple of luxury watches with him, worth approximately INR 5 crore. Though the junior Pandya had declared the watches beforehand. The serial numbers that were mentioned on the invoice weren't in line with the watches that were in his possession.

Cricket Latest News: Hardik Pandya's watches could be seized

On Sunday night. Sources said he had declared these watches as pre-owned ones, but the serial numbers did not match. The new ones cost Rs 5 crore, but Pandya had declared the price as Rs 1.8 crore. In which, one costing Rs 1.4 crore and the other Rs 40 lakh.

Sources said Pandya will have to rectify the discrepancy in the invoice. However, which means he will have to submit a fresh one where the serial numbers match. These watches attract a duty of 38%. Sources said that if Pandya fails to submit enough evidence, the watches will be seized.

Read Also: Ajinkya Rahane will be leading India in the first test against New Zealand

Pandya later issued a statement clarifying that the cost of the watch is around Rs 1.5 crore and not Rs 5 crore. However, Hardik Pandya confirmed that the news was purely fake and rubbish.

He said he voluntarily declared all the items that he lawfully purchased in Dubai on arrival at the Mumbai Airport and was ready to pay the customs duty.

India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be seen playing for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy under the captaincy of Krunal Pandya. The series will begin at various venues from 23 November, Saturday. 

Hardik Pandya had informed BCCI last year that he would make himself available for domestic limited overs matches in case he is not in the national team. 

Also Read: Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024: Mohammed Shami to play for Bengal; Sudip Gharami named captain

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Hardik Pandya set to play for Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy! 🔥#HardikPandya #SyedMushtaqAliTrophy #Baroda #indiancricket #BCCI pic.twitter.com/1H3wSnbytd

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) November 22, 2024

“Indian international star Hardik Pandya will join his brother and captain Krunal Pandya for Baroda. On behalf of the BCA President and Apex Committee Members, we warmly welcome your (Hardik Pandya) return to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.” the Baroda Cricket Association said in a press release.

Last played in 2016

Usually the association announces an 18-member team, but this time only 17 members were announced initially and now Hardik has also been included in the team. He will join the team in Indore ahead of the opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Gujarat on Saturday. Pandya has returned to Baroda team after 8 years. 31-year-old last participated in this tournament in 2016.

Hardik Pandya's presence will be a big achievement for Baroda. Baroda has been placed in Group B along with Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Sikkim and Tripura.

Last season, Baroda team was the runner-up under the captaincy of Krunal Pandya. Baroda had to face defeat by Punjab by 20 runs. Krunal will continue to lead the team. All-rounder Hardik Pandya is in great form. 

Also Read: Virender Sehwag's son scores 297 in Cooch Behar Trophy: The legend says "Khel Jao"

Pandya was part of South Africa tour

Hardik Pandya was part of the Indian cricket team on the recently concluded South Africa tour where they featured in the four-match T20 series against the hosts. He contributed with both bat and ball in India's 3-1 win over South Africa. Pndya was also seen at Mumbai Indians' training session in Navi Mumbai.

MI retained Pandya

Pandya doesn't have to worry about impressing IPL scouts after finding a place in Mumbai Indians' retention list ahead of the auction to be held on November 23 and 24 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The all-rounder's presence in the Baroda jersey is in line with BCCI's policy of mandating presence of key cricketers in domestic tournaments. Hence, his aim will be to keep in touch with the game and possibly help Baroda achieve a rare title win.

Last night, Hardik Pandya finished off in style. He smashed a short ball from Taskin Ahmed over the mid-wicket to win the game with 49 balls to go and 7 wickets in hand. He overtook Virat Kohli's record of winning matches by hitting a six.

Earlier, Virat Kohli similarly ended the matches, four times, in T-20 cricket. With Hardik hitting the six last night, his count rose to 5.

Swagger Pandya

The all-rounder stood at 39, not out after 16 balls. His inning included five fours and two sixes, with a strike rate of 243.75.

His no-look ramp shot over the wicketkeeper’s head defined his aura and calmness on the field. The 128-run target didn't look as appealing as his confidence during the shot.

𝘿𝙊 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙎!

The shot. The reaction. The result ➡️ EPIC 😎

WATCH 🎥🔽 #TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @hardikpandya7 | @IDFCFIRSTBank https://t.co/mvJvIuqm2B

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 6, 2024

Pandya had a good run with the ball too. He took one wicket, giving 26 runs in four overs, with a decent economy of 6.50.

Bowling records

There was a time when "instructions" came for him to bowl regularly. The medium-pacer version of Hardik Pandya is now the fourth-leading wicket-taker in T20I cricket. He has 87 wickets, overtaking Arshdeep Singh. The later has 86 wickets to his name.

Yuzvendra Chahal, however, tops the list with 96 wickets in T-20 Internationals.

BCCI announced a 15-men Indian cricket team squad for the upcoming India vs Bangladesh T20I series, set to be played from 3rd October 2024. India will face Bangladesh in a three-match T20I series in Gwalior, New Delhi and Hyderabad after the completion of the test series.

Suryakumar Yadav was named the captain and will be the key clog for India's success during the series. Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Rinku Singh will be the main batters of the squad while Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, and Washington Sundar will the be all-rounders alongside Hardik Pandya.

Jitesh Sharma was also named as the second wicket-keeper alongside Samson as Rishabh Pant was given a break. However, it was the inclusion of Mayank Yadav that surprised everyone as the speedster got his maiden India call up despite being injured since IPL 2024. 

Mayank had impressed each and everyone with his speed during IPL 2024 and was the fastest Indian bowler in Indian Premier League history.

Full Squad

India’s squad for 3 T20Is against Bangladesh: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, JItesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav

India vs Bangladesh: T20I series schedule 

Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of selectors for the BCCI cleared out all the doubts regarding the player selections and the new captain of the T20I format during Gautam Gambhir's first press conference as the head coach. BCCI recently announced Suryakumar Yadav as the new captain of the T20I team. The top-ranked T20I batter was selected over experienced star all-rounder Hardik Pandya to succeed Rohit Sharma, who retired from the format following India's T20 World Cup victory.

Read Also: "What more do you want?: Mohammed Shami still unhappy with Shastri-Kohli's 2019 World Cup selection

Hardik was expected to take the captaincy role after serving as vice-captain during the T20 World Cup. Despite his captaincy experience with the Gujarat Titans in the IPL, where he led the team to two finals and a trophy in their debut season, couldn't be the captain of team India due to his unavailability. BCCI prefers someone who is available most of the time. 

"Regarding Hardik, he's still a very important player for us. Fitness has been a challenge for him... Then it becomes difficult for the coach or selectors... Fitness is a clear challenge and we want someone who is available more often than not....Having said that, we believe Surya has the qualities necessary to be a captain....We also feel we can manage Hardik better, we've seen what he can do with the bat and ball in the World Cup... We speak to every player, about whether their role has changed. And yeah we've spoken to him," Ajit Agarkar said in the press conference.

Ajit Agarkar said, "Hardik Pandya is a very important player, but fitness is clearly one challenge and we want someone to be available all the time". pic.twitter.com/kfEo5q8O7F

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 22, 2024

The chairman of selectors for the BCCI also explained why they decided to go with Suryakumar Yadav as the new captain of the T20I format.

"Suryakumar Yadav was made the captain because he is one of the most deserving candidates. We have been getting the feedback from the dressing room. He has got a great cricket brain, he is one of the best T20 batters in the world, and the one who is likely to play all the games. We wanted the one who is available all the time. Surya has got the necessary qualities that you need to succeed as a captain," Agarkar said.

Ajit Agarkar on selecting Shubman Gill as the new vice-captain

"Shubman Gill is a three-format player, we want someone who can learn. We don’t want a situation where we start looking for a captain when injuries/loss of form happens," Agarkar said.

The Gujarat Titans skipper recently led the team to a 4-1 victory in the T20I series in Zimbabwe. He is young, talented, and has lots of time to learn. This was BCCI's thought on appointing him as the new vice-captain. 

Read Also: Suryakumar Yadav as captain: Stats and previous records

Agarkar cleared out the doubts regarding Ravindra Jadeja and some other players being dropped out

"Jadeja was not dropped from ODIs. The decision was taken considering the Test workload coming up soon after. We should have clarified that after selection. He's very much in the scheme of things. Just that both him and Axar couldn’t have been in the XI for all games and with 10 Tests coming up Jadeja was given rest," Agarkar said.

Two of the top-performing players in the recently concluded Zimbabwe T20I series did not find a spot in the squad for India's tour of Sri Lanka. Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who batted in the top order in the last T20I series were not selected for the T20I team despite being two of the top players. Agarkar clarified why they were dropped from the Sri Lanka tour squad.

"Any player who is dropped will feel hard done by. Look at Rinku, he performed well ahead of the T20 World Cup, but couldn't make the cut. We can only pick 15," Agarkar said.

Team India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya has created history by becoming the first Indian player to be ranked No.1 T20I all-rounder in the latest ICC rankings. ICC updated the rankings on Wednesday.

Also Read: T2O World Cup winners list

Jumped two places to become No.1

Hardik played brilliantly in the T20 World Cup 2024 with both bat and ball. He has jumped two places in the latest ICC rankings. Earlier he was in third place. Hardik has become the number-1 all-rounder along with Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka. 

Played an important role in T20 World Cup 2024

In 8 matches of the T20 World Cup 2024, the 30-year-old scored 144 runs at a strike rate of more than 150 and also took 11 wickets. During this period his economy was 7.64. With this brilliant performance, Hardik has become the first Indian to become the number-1 T20I all-rounder. Before him, no all-rounder from Team India could achieve this feat.

Hardik played an important role in making Team India the world champion by taking important wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in the final match against South Africa. Hardik had bowled the last over of the final, in which he gave only 8 runs while defending 16 runs due to which Team India defeated South Africa by 7 runs and lifted the T20 World Cup trophy after 17 years.

After a tumultuous IPL campaign where he was booed relentlessly when he replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the Mumbai Indians franchise, the performances in the T20 World Cup have turned the tide back again in Pandya’s favor.

Bumrah came to 12th position

Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav have also benefited in the recent ICC rankings. Bumrah, who was the Player of the Tournament of T20 World Cup 2024, has come to 12th position in the list of bowlers. This is his highest ranking since 2020. 

Also Read: Most wickets in every T20 World Cup edition

Kuldiya Yadav has reached number 8 with a jump of 3 places. Kuldeep has 654 rating points. Adam Zampa also remains at number eight with the same rating points. Anrich Nortje of South Africa has reached second position with a jump of 7 places. Adil Rashid remains at the top.