In what could be the biggest trade in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history, Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper Hardik Pandya is likely to move back to his former franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, scheduled to take place in Dubai on December 19.

According to an ESPNcricinfo report, this is going to be an all-cash trade which means MI will be paying the full amount of Hardik's salary plus an undisclosed transfer fee to GT. Hardik is also likely to earn 50% of the transfer fee.

Hardik's IPL salary is INR 15 crore and if the deal goes through, it will be the first time an IPL-winning captain will switch teams via trade. Both franchises are yet to break the silence on this mega deal so far.

Hardik Pandya had led the Titans to IPL triumph in their debut season in 2022. In the 2023 edition, he took the team to the final, where they lost to MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

To make this deal happen, Mumbai Indians need to have INR 15 crore in their purse and the five-time champions currently have only INR 0.05 crore. All 10 franchises will get INR 5 crore for the upcoming auction. However, MI will need to release some players to add the remaining INR 10 crore in their purse.

During his two-year association with the Gujarat Titans, Hardik aggregated 833 runs in 30 innings at an average of 41.65 and a strike rate of 133.49. Moreover, he picked up 11 wickets with an economy rate of 8.1.

Hardik began his IPL career at Mumbai Indians in 2015 and played for them until 2021, winning a total of four titles in seven seasons. Ahead of the 2022 mega-auction, MI let him go as they could retain only a few players. He was the first player picked by GT owners from the pool released by other franchises for INR 15 crore.

(ESPNcricinfo Inputs)