Hardik Pandya does a Ghar Wapsi 

All ten franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) confirmed their retention list ahead of the auction for IPL 2024 which takes place in Dubai on 19^th December. However, the biggest story came a day later when it officially announced that Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper, Hardik Pandya had completed a return to Mumbai Indians (MI).

In an all-cash transaction to the tune of INR 15 crore, the 30-year-old all-rounder has officially done a “ghar wapsi” to the franchise he won four titles with. Simultaneously, Mumbai Indians have traded Australian all-rounder Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in another all-cash transaction worth INR 17.5 crore, which is the league value of the player.

This double trade bolsters the purse of the five-time champions for the upcoming IPL 2024 auction in Dubai, while also filling an important gap in their team. There is no third player involved in the Hardik Pandya transfer between MI and GT and the same is the case in the transfer of Cameron Green between MI and RCB.

While, the trading window is open till one week before the auction that is December 12, all three franchises concluded the transfer late on Sunday evening. The official announcement was made on Monday November 27, through an IPL media release confirming Pandya’s move to Mumbai Indians and Green’s shift to Royal Challengers.

The release stated, “Gujarat Titans’ (GT) captain, Hardik Pandya, is set to move back to his first franchise, Mumbai Indians, following a trade between the two franchises. The all-rounder spent two momentous years with GT, spearheading their campaign with aplomb. In GT’s debut season in 2022, Hardik ensured a fairytale start, with the team lifting the coveted trophy, while they finished runners-up in their second season after a last-ball defeat in a thrilling final earlier this year.”

“In a separate trade, MI all-rounder Cameron Green has been traded to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Green, who was bought for a whopping INR 17,50,00,000 at the auction last December, featured in 16 matches. The Australian had an impressive start to the IPL, hitting an unbeaten century and two half-centuries while also taking six wickets. Both trades have been carried out as per the existing player fees.”

While there is a certain amount of emotion involved, this deal has the potential to change Franchise Cricket. The retention deadline and the trading window have been a part of the IPL rulebook for years but never before has any franchise used it to the extent that Mumbai Indians have. Most cricket fans might not have been aware of the difference between the retention deadline and the trading window before this. This is a fairly regular occurrence in other sports like football and NFL where teams rush to complete a transfer before the deadline. It is possible that more franchises will make use of the trading window to buy their coveted players rather than just wait for the auction.

Remaining purse of the teams

While each team has a total INR 100 crore to spend, the franchises have spent a major chunk of their finances in retaining players. Hence, each team has a varying amount of money left to spend during the IPL 2024 auction on December 19^th. 

The trading window will be open till 12^th December and the squad compositions and available purse is still subject to change going into the auction.