Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik Pandya’s much-talked-about move to Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the IPL 2024 has reportedly been completed. This happened in an all-cash deal for which MI had to trade a player to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to get funds to procure Pandya.
Hardik Pandya made his debut for MI in 2015 and was with the franchise till IPL 2021. But then ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, Mumbai surprised everyone by releasing the Baroda cricketer. He was soon picked before the auction by Gujarat Titans, one of the two new franchises, and was named their captain.
Hardik led well, taking GT to the IPL glory in their debut season and then almost repeated the feat as Gujarat made it into the IPL 2023 final, losing to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
To the surprise of many, GT opted to retain Pandya before completing the trade to MI ahead of the IPL 2023 mini-auction set to be held in Dubai on December 19. GT retained their captain but released the likes of West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph and Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka.
Hardik Pandya became the third captain to be traded in the IPL, after R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane.
There is also talk of Pandya potentially taking over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma, which would mark a significant shift in leadership for the Mumbai-based franchise.
Meanwhile, the Cricbuzz report also confirmed that Australian all-rounder Cameron Green has been traded from Mumbai Indians to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Green joined the Mumbai-based franchise last season after they shelled out INR 17.50 crore for his services.
Green played 16 matches in IPL 2023, scoring 452 runs at an average of 50.22, while striking at 160.28. Green also scored a century and two fifties last season.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
