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'Baroda team kya visionary nikli' - Fans react as Hardik Pandya reveals Baroda team dropped him for 'attitude problem'

Hardik Pandya revealed how he was dropped by Baroda due to an attitude problem when he was 17. Here's how fans reacted.

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Rohit Kumar
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Hardik Pandya, GT, IPL 2023

Hardik Pandya, GT, IPL 2023 (Source: Twitter)

Hardik Pandya, currently captaining the Gujarat Titans in the ongoing sixteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), took part in the franchise's latest podcast episode. At the same time, he talked about the formative years of his cricket career. He made a big revelation about the Baroda team management.

Hardik Pandya said on the podcast aired on Jio Cinema, "I was dropped from the Baroda team when 17 because people thought I had some attitude problems. My belief is that if you don't respect me, you don't deserve my respect". The statement has gained traction on social media, and fans have reacted plentifully.

Hardik Pandya revealed he only defied Ashish Nehra once

In the same episode, Hardik talked about denying a direct instruction from Nehra during Rajasthan Royals' batting innings in the last IPL edition's final.

"The only time I went against his wish was in the final. Rashid Khan generally never bowls his third over around the 12-over mark. I always gave him 14th and 16th over; I always believed Rashid is at his best when people target him. When people play him around, he may take wickets, but Rashid is my ace. I have to use the ace most effectively," Hardik began.

"In that game, Devdutt Padikkal was around 2 runs off 9 balls. He'd played out an entire over of mine quietly. Rashid had already bowled 3 overs. Generally, we never finish his quota around the 12th over. I saw the scoreboard and realised they were 80/2. Sanju and Yashasvi were out, I think. But I knew they had one batter short, that was very important for me to know. That was the style of their play last year, and it was a potential weakness. We couldn't exploit that weakness in Qualifier; Buttler hit us. But we had made other inroads that time.

"Since it was the final, I thought we could be more aggressive in exploiting that weakness. Ashu Pa gestured to me to bowl Sai Kishore. I called Sai, but then I stopped. I look at the score… '11 overs are down, and I've bowled 2 and given away 6. Buttler has scored 35 runs, and he's batting at a run-a-ball; Devdutt is 2 off 9. This is the over they will have to target. If a left-handed Padikkal targets Sai and hits two sixes, he may get back to the rhythm. What seems like a 150-odd score may become 170'. In the final, those 20 extra runs would make a big difference. I knew Buttler also wanted to open up, so this over was important," Hardik explained.

Here's how fans reacted:

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