The customs officials impounded two luxury watches worth Rs 5 crores from cricketer Hardik Pandya on his arrival after the Indian cricket team returned to the country following a disappointing performance at the T20 World Cup that was held in the United Arab Emirates, news reports claimed.
As per ABP Live, the Indian Cricket team returned home late last night after being knocked out of the ICC tournament following ignominious defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand on the league stage. However, after arriving at the airport, the customs officials found Hardik Pandya in possession of two luxury watches worth Rs 5 crores. The cricketer did not have invoices for the watches, nor had he declared these watches as customs items. As a consequence, the customs officials confiscated his watches.
Hardik Pandya’s fascination with luxury watches
Earlier in August, a month before the second leg of the IPL 2021, Hardik had taken to Instagram to post a series of photos of himself in a foreign location in a Rolls Royce. The cricketer was seen wearing a tank top along with a hat and sunglasses. The cricketer is used to sharing pictures of his lavish lifestyle but what caught the attention of his followers was one of the images shared by him. It was of a Patek Phillippe Nautilus Platinum 5711, a luxury watch that costs upwards of Rs 5 crores.
According to GQ India, the watch sports 32 baguette-cut emeralds and is entirely forged in platinum. The 5711 has emeralds serving as hour markers and gets a self-winding automatic movement. While 5711 is a rare range, this particular emerald model is even rarer. Pandya joins the club of celebrities like actor-comedian Kevin Hart and rapper Drake who own the super expensive watch.
However, this was not the first time that the all-rounder had flaunted his love for luxury watches. Back in 2019, when he was injured and had undergone surgery, Pandya had shared an image of himself on a hospital bed sporting a shiny watch. One of the social media users claimed the watch was a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch in gold.
Reports claimed the model was the self-winding Rose Gold Nautilus (in 18K rose gold case) with a reference number 5980/1R and Caliber CH 28‑520 C.