The Mumbai Indians completed a trade for Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans and also traded Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore in order to increase their purse for the IPL player auction on December 19. The trades were confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by a BCCI official, though the IPL and the franchises have not yet made it public.
With Hardik’s salary, Titans’ purse will increase by INR 15 crore, along with an additional transfer fee from Mumbai. Hardik stands to earn up to 50% of that transfer fee from Titans based on the mutual agreement.
The trading window is open until December 12, with the auction scheduled for December 19, and will open again on December 20 up to a month before the 2024 season begins. Mumbai had released 11 players, freeing up INR 15.25 crore in their auction purse. By trading Green to RCB in an all-cash deal, however, Mumbai added another INR 17.50 crore to their purse.
Hardik led Titans to the title in 2022, their debut season in the IPL, and was the Player of the Match in the final. In 2023, the Titans made the IPL final for the second time in two seasons, where they came runners up to Chennai Super Kings under Hardik’s leadership.
It was at Mumbai that Hardik began his IPL career and developed into one of the best allrounders in the game. Bought for INR 10 lakhs as an uncapped player in 2015, Hardik was a part of Mumbai’s title-winning seasons in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. He was finally released ahead of the 2022 mega auction, paving the way for Titans to sign Hardik as their captain.
