Indian all-rounder, Hardik Pandya was stopped at the Mumbai airport, and two of his watches which were worth 5 crores were seized by the customs department, the officials told ANI. The incident happened when Pandya, along with team India was returning from a disappointing T20 World Cup.
It was learnt from sources that Hardik Pandya was not able to produce the invoice for the watches nor was he able to declare them. Thus, two of Pandya's watches had to be seized.
"Customs Department seized two wrist watches worth Rs 5 crores of cricketer Hardik Pandya, on Sunday night (November 14) when he was returning from Dubai. The cricketer allegedly did not have the bill receipt of the watches," said the Mumbai Customs Department to ANI.
Hardik Pandya proved to be a flop in the recently completed ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. In this tournament, he could not perform as expected from him. In the 3 innings of the T20 Cricket World Cup 2021, only 69 runs came from Hardik's bat. Especially in the crucial matches against New Zealand and Pakistan, he lost his wicket at crucial junctures.
BCCI had announced a 16-member T20 team for the series against New Zealand. Many such players got a place in the team, who performed with a bang in the IPL. Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested.
On the other hand, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan have been included in the team. Apart from this, Rituraj Gaikwad has also got a place in the team. Venkatesh Iyer is seen as a replacement to Hardik Pandya.