5 months ago
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Hardik Pandya will reportedly leave Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League and return to Mumbai Indians, where he started his IPL career in 2015. As per an ESPNCricinfo report, the move will be all cash with no player moving in return.
The report says MI will pay Rs 15 crore as Pandya’s salary and an undisclosed transfer amount to GT. Pandya will also earn up to 50% of the transfer fee.
To make the deal happen, MI will have to ensure enough purse remaining. After the last auction, Mumbai had just Rs 0.05 crore left in the purse. Franchises will get an additional Rs 5 crore for the forthcoming auction. It means MI will need to release players to bring Pandya back to the fold. The team will have to move fast with the retention deadline expiring on 24 November at 4pm IST.
If the trade happens, Pandya will become the third captain to be traded after R Ashwin moved from Punjab Kings to Delhi Capitals, and Ajinkya Rahane joined Capitals from Rajasthan Royals.
Pandya led GT to the title in 2022, their debut season in the IPL, and was the Player of the Match in the final. In 2023, GT reached the IPL final for a second time, where they finished runners up to Chennai Super Kings. In both seasons under Pandya, GT had finished top of the league stage.
In the two seasons at GT, Pandya scored 833 runs in 30 innings, with an average of 41.65 and strike rate of 133.49. He took 11 wickets at an economy of 8.1.
Before the move to GT, Pandya played for MI and was nurtured into one of the best all-rounders in the sport. He was acquired for Rs 10 lakhs as an uncapped player in 2015 and went on to be part of the title-winning squad in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Pandya was released ahead of the 2022 mega auction. With the franchise allowed to retain just four players ahead of that season, they stuck with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard, paving way for Titans to sign their future captain.
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