Just hours after retaining their captain, the Gujarat Titans have traded star all-rounder Hardik Pandya to the Mumbai Indians on Sunday, The Indian Express has learnt.
Pandya was the captain of the Gujarat franchise for two seasons, and guided them to the title in the first one, in 2022. In the second one, Titans finished runners-up to Chennai Super Kings. Pandya had spent several successful seasons at MI before moving to GT.
To make cap space in their roster to accommodate Pandya, the Mumbai team has traded Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Mumbai Indians had earlier released England’s Jofra Archer, who was a high-risk gamble that they took in the mega auction that didn’t work out.
Sunday was the IPL retention deadline ahead of the auctions.
As The Indian Express had reported earlier, franchises can still trade players till December 12. The Indian board had kept a deadline of November 26 for teams to submit the names of players they have retained so that they could begin the process for the IPL auction in Dubai on December 19.
Trade between two teams doesn’t necessarily act as a barrier for the auction. After IPL teams submit their player rosters, franchises now have better clarity of the purse each team has in the auction and which players they can put up for trade.
Elsewhere, Chennai Super Kings also retained MS Dhoni as captain while England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is skipping the next season anyway to manage his workload, was among those let go, releasing more than INR 16 crore in the kitty. Lucknow Super Giants also revealed that they have retained their captain KL Rahul. They had brought in top-order batsman Devdutt Padikkal through a trade to bolster their options.
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Rahul played a big role in LSG reaching the playoffs in the first season. The right-hander scored 616 runs in IPL 2022. Last year, he played only nine matches and scored 274 runs before a thigh injury ruled him out of the tournament.
Joe Root had his first IPL experience for Rajasthan Royals in 2023 though he only played three games for the former champions. Director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara said the England batsman had a positive impact on the dressing room during his time.
However, the 32-year-old declared that he won’t be available for the upcoming season. “During our retention conversations, Joe informed us of his decision to not take part in IPL 2024,” Sangakkara would say. RR had picked Root for a base price of INR 1 crore.
“Even in a short span of time, Joe was able to create such a positive impact on the franchise and the players around him. His energy around the group and the experience he brought to the Royals will be missed. We respect his decision totally and wish him success in everything he does.” he added.
Root and England had a disappointing 50-over World Cup campaign in India. England’s managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key, during the announcement of England’s squad for the West Indies tour next month, said Root needed a break.
“He’s not stopped since probably New Zealand or what he did in Pakistan, the ILT20, New Zealand, the Hundred, Ashes and so on,” Key had said.
Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed has been traded to Sunrisers Hyderabad, and SRH left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar has been sent to the Bangalore-based franchise.
Dagar played three games for SRH in the 2023 season and picked up one wicket while Shahbaz, in his 39-match IPL career, has 14 wickets and made a few handy contributions with the bat.
Two big-money acquisitions in Shardul Thakur and Lockie Ferguson have been released by Kolkata Knight Riders.
There was plenty of excitement about Brook’s arrival at the IPL and he justified some of it with a century early in IPL 2023 but his consistency wasn’t quite there. And SRH have now released him.
Manish Pandey was among the many released by Delhi Capitals, who have retained the likes of Rishabh Pant, David Warner, Anrich Nortje and Prithvi Shaw.
In perhaps one of the more surprising releases, Punjab Kings said they are releasing Shah Rukh Khan. Apart from the big-hitter from Tamil Nadu, their list of released players read Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Mohit Rathee, Baltej Dhanda, Raj Angad Bawa.
Chennai Super Kings Released Players: Akash Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Ben Stokes, Bhagath Varma, Dwaine Pretorius, Kyle Jamieson, Sisanda Magala, Subhranshu Senapati.
Delhi Capitals Released Players: Aman Khan, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Manish Pandey, Mustafizur Rahman, Phil Salt, Priyam Garg, Rilee Rossouw, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan
Gujarat Titans Released Players: Alzarri Joseph, Dasun Shanaka, K.S. Bharat, Odean Smith, Pradeep Sangwan, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Yash Dayal
Kolkata Knight Riders Released Players: Aarya Desai, David Wiese, Johnson Charles, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Lockie Ferguson, Mandeep Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Shakib Al Hasan, Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav
Lucknow Super Giants Released Players: Arpit Guleria, Daniel Sams, Jaydev Unadkat, Karan Sharma, Karun Nair, Manan Vohra, Suryansh Shegde, Swapnil Singh
Mumbai Indians Released Players: Chris Jordan, Duan Jansen, Hrithik Shokeen, Jhye Richardson, Jofra Archer, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Raghav Goyal, Ramandeep Singh, Roley Meredith, Sandeep Warrier, Tristan Stubbs
Punjab Kings: Baltej Dhanda, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Matthew Short, Mohit Rathee, Raj Angad Bawa, Shahrukh Khan
Rajasthan Royals: Abdul P A, Akash Vashisht, Jason Holder, Joe Root, K.C Cariappa, K.M. Asif, Kuldip Yadav, Murugan Ashwin, Obed Mccoy
Royal Challengers Bangalore Released Players: Avinash Singh, David Willey, Finn Allen, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Michael Bracewell, Siddharth Kaul, Sonu Yadav, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell
Sunrisers Hyderabad Released Players: Adil Rashid, Akeal Hosein, Harry Brook, Kartik Tyagi, Samarth Vyas, Vivrant Sharma
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