India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya has unexpectedly found himself in a new storm ahead of his return to national colors against New Zealand, after a scene from the recently released Netflix series has sparked fresh debate about his past airport controversy.
Hardik Pandya is in the news again as Netflix series brings up the old Mumbai airport controversy
The crime thriller Taskery: The Smugglers’ Web is based at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and tells the story of a special customs team tasked with stopping smuggling. The web series stars Emraan Hashmi in the role of customs officer Arjun Meena and focuses on a high-profile interception at one of the world’s busiest international airports.
Although series producers Neeraj Pandey and Raghav Jairath clearly stated that the story is completely fictional, a scene from the fifth episode has forced everyone to look beyond the series. In that episode, customs officials stop an “IPL superstar” arriving from Rome and recover luxury items worth crores of rupees, including expensive watches.
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The scene immediately reminded many viewers of the real-life Mumbai airport episode involving Hardik Pandya in 2021. At the time, several media reports had claimed that when Hardik Pandya returned from Dubai after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, two luxury watches worth around Rs 5 crore were seized from him.
Hardik Pandya clears his name on airport surveillance controversy
However, the Indian all-rounder strongly denied those reports. He clarified that only one watch, worth around Rs 1.5 crore, was taken up for thorough evaluation by Customs. Pandya also said that he had voluntarily gone to the customs counter, declared the watch himself and was ready to pay the necessary duty.
According to the ANI report, the customs officials had only asked for the documents to complete the evaluation process and Pandya cooperated fully in it. He later clarified that he was not involved in any wrongdoing and insisted that he followed the law.
Nevertheless, the similarity between the scene from the Netflix series and Pandya’s airport episode has revived online discussions, putting his name once again in the headlines ahead of the five-match T20 series against New Zealand starting January 21 in Nagpur.
Nitish Kumar Reddy favored as Hardik Pandya’s replacement, but performances raise doubts
Recently, India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate shared that Nitish Kumar Reddy is possibly being groomed as a possible future replacement for Hardik Pandya keeping in mind the long-term plan for the ICC World Cup 2027, which has raised questions over the senior all-rounder’s future.
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However, whenever Nitish was given opportunities, he struggled to perform consistently. Despite getting repeated opportunities, the all-rounder has failed to make a strong impact.
Also in the second ODI against New Zealand, Reddy was out for 20 and bowled just 2 overs as India lost the match by seven wickets in Rajkot.
Now the decisive match of the ODI series will be played on January 18 in Indore and it remains to be seen whether this young player will get a chance against the Black Caps or not.
Ryan ten Doeschate said, “With Nitish, we keep talking about developing him and getting him game time. Then, when you give him game time, he often doesn’t do much in games.”