Hardik Pandya loves to live an adventurous life and this is an open secret by now. The all-rounder's flamboyant lifestyle has often grabbed headlines, both for the right and wrong reasons. While Hardik continues to play a crucial role for India in the ongoing T20 World Cup, a recent development has thrown him into a social media debate.
Hardik's relationship with model Mahieka Sharma is now well-documented. During the Valentine's Day weekend, Mahieka was spotted with Hardik, right from the team hotel to the airport. There were multiple videos showcasing this, and this has reportedly been going on. Meanwhile, Thursday (February 19) was Mahieka's 25th birthday and a cake was cut allegedly at the team hotel itself.
All this brings a big question into the mix - has Hardik broken the BCCI's rule of 'No WAGs'? For those unaware, families of players are no longer allowed on tournaments of short duration like T20 World Cup 2026. For long tours, there are directives that families can stay for a maximum of two weeks on tours that exceed 45 days in total.
For T20 World Cup 2026, the guidelines remain the same. Families are not allowed to with the players in any capacity. This has been conveyed by the BCCI to the team management. However, the players have the option of making separate arrangements, according to sources. What category does Hardik's case fall into?
For starters, there has been no official communication from BCCI to the all-rounder on this matter? All that we have seen so far is just social media speculation. Also, it is fully possible that Mahieka didn't stay at the team hotel and only linked up with Hardik on cerain occasions.
If Mahieka has stayed with Hardik, it does seem like a potential violation of BCCI's policy but unless we get to know how transparent he was about this incident with the Board, making assumptions won't be appropriate.