I was drawing 10 Lakhs in my second year of IPL, and a couple of cricketers told me I deserve 6-7 Crores: Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya is one of the mainstays of the Mumbai Indians (MI) side in the IPL. Hardik has featured in 92 matches for the MI side, and in the year 2021, the all-rounder drew a salary of INR 11 Crores.

Pandya said that in the year 2016, a couple of cricketers came and told him that he deserves to earn 6-7 crores as he had already played for India at that time and was the only all-rounder at that point as well. Pandya was drawing a salary of INR 10 Lakhs in 2016.

“I got picked at ten lakhs, right? Next year, a couple of cricketers, I won’t name them, came and told me: ‘Hardik, you deserve six-seven crores now.’ Because I had played for India and I was the only allrounder going around at that point,” said Hardik Pandya as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

Pandya added that he was fine with earning INR 10 Lakhs as his brother, Krunal Pandya was earning INR 2 Crores at that time, and Hardik himself was earning INR 2 Crores as he was an Indian player and also because of his brand endorsements.

“I was like, it’s fine. My brother is making ₹2 crore, I am picked for MI for ₹10 lakhs, but from my brand [endorsements] and as an India player, I was [still] making about two crore. So, we are stable,” added Pandya.

When I got INR 11 Crores, it didn’t excite me so much: Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya also added that when he is now drawing a salary of INR 11 Crores, and his brother is earning INR 9 Crores, he is grounded and is not excited. Adding that he is happy, Pandya concluded by stating that with more money, there is more stability.

“When I got 11 crore and Krunal got nine crore [after the Pandya brothers were retained in 2018 by MI] – so 20 crore – we were very much neutral and grounded. It didn’t excite us that much. Obviously, we were happy, but it didn’t change a lot of things. We were still the same as before, but with money there was stability,” concluded Hardik Pandya.