Hardik Pandya to make sensational U-turn to Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans ahead of IPL 2024 for INR 15 crore: Reports
Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik Pandya might be returning to his former franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) in what is seen as potentially one of the most shocking trades in the history of the Indian Premier League.
According to reports from ESPNCricinfo, MI will be paying INR 15 crores to the Titans for the services of Hardik. This is just the amount that Hardik will get, while the transfer fee has remained undisclosed.
It is still incredibly interesting to see how Mumbai are going to manage their retentions ahead of the deadline on November 26 at 4 PM IST. Each team will get an additional kitty of INR 5 crore, but it will still not be enough for MI as they will have to find a way of freeing up at least INR 10 crore more from somewhere by releasing some players.
Hardik Pandya won the title with GT as captain in IPL 2022
After playing seven seasons for the Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya decided to make the move to Gujarat Titans and was also named as their captain. It was a dream run for his team as they went all the way to clinch the title with Hardik winning the Player of the Match award in the final.
The all-rounder followed it up with another impressive season earlier this year, going all the way to the final but only to lose to MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
It is still not clear whether Hardik will be the new MI captain or whether he will play under Rohit Sharma's leadership like he used to in his earlier stint. However, this could be a massive coup for the Mumbai Indians, who already had a great previous season, reaching Qualifier 2.
Hardik's presence would only strengthen MI further and give them a better chance of winning a record sixth IPL title next year.