Hyderabad: India's flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya is set for a return to the Mumbai Indians franchise for the next IPL, with a one-way all-cash trade deal nearing completion.
The India cricketer's name, though, figured in the list of retained players announced by his existing franchise Gujarat Titans on Sunday, the last day of the player release and retention. The trading window, however, will be open until December 12 while the mini auction will be held on December 19 in Dubai. Pandya began his Indian Premier League career with MI in 2015 and was a part of the side until 2021. He won four titles with the Mumbai Indians.
Following the inclusion of Gujarat Titans into the competition in 2022, he was picked up by the Ahmedabad-based franchise and was also made the captain of the side. He led GT to title success in their debut season and helped them finish as the runners-up in IPL 2023. Speculations were rife that Pandya could rejoin Mumbai Indians, ending his two-year association with the Titans ahead of the IPL 2024.
While the Mumbai side named Rohit Sharma as their captain for IPL 2024, England pacer Jofra Archer has been released. Archer is still recuperating from an elbow surgery. The move will make Pandya one of the few captains to be traded in the IPL, joining the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane, who were traded in 2020.
Gujarat Titans retained batters David Miller, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, pacer Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, all-rounder Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma.
The franchise released Yash Dayal, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Pradeep Sangwan, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph and Sri Lankan Dasun Shanaka.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals has retained 17 players ahead of the Indian Premier League 2024 auction. The franchise has retained 12 Indians and five overseas players. Nine players (six Indians, three overseas) are being released from their contracts. RR traded Devdutt Padikkal with Lucknow Super Giants, with pacer Avesh Khan joining the Royals.
Captain Sanju Samson, Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, Jos Buttler, New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, Australian spinner Adam Zampa, West Indies' batter Shimron Hetmyer, Indian internationals Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sandeep Sharma and Kuldeep Sen have been retained by the franchise.
The team has also continued with exciting young all-rounder Riyan Parag along with the wicketkeeper-batter trio of South Africa's Donovan Ferreira, Uttar Pradesh's Dhruv Jurel and Rajasthan's Kunal Singh Rathore. Rajasthan Royals has released Devdutt Padikkal (traded to Lucknow Super Giants), Murugan Ashwin, KC Cariappa, KM Asif, Akash Vashisht, Abdul Bazith, Kuldip Yadav, Joe Root, Jason Holder and Obed McCoy.
Royals' Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara said that they are excited to be retaining a strong core of players "who we believe have the ability to win matches for the team".
"As a high-performance outfit, our goal is to keep refining across various aspects and we have been able to identify the areas where we need to improve considering the different combinations required to win matches during the course of an IPL season," added Sangakkara.
"On the other hand, every year, this is also a difficult time as you have to let go of some of the players who have contributed immensely to the team and its environment. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for everything they've done for the Royals, and wish them the very best for what's to come," the Sri Lankan legend was quoted as saying in a statement issued by Rajasthan Royals.
The Delhi Capitals have retained 16 players, including four overseas players. The franchise has retained Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Khaleel Ahmed, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dhull, Vicky Ostwal and Abishek Porel.
It has also retained overseas players David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Anrich Nortje, and Lungi Ngidi. It has released Manish Pandey, Chetan Sakariya, Sarfaraz Khan, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Aman Khan, Ripal Patel, Priyam Garg. and overseas players Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt, Rovman Powell, and Mustafizur Rahman.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore has retained skipper Faf du Plessis and former skipper and star batter Virat Kohli. The franchise Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Dinesh Karthik, Rajat Patidar, Reece Topley, Will Jacks, Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Manoj Bhandage, Karn Sharma, Mayank Dagar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Akash Deep, Rajan Kumar and Himanshu Sharma. The RCB has Rs 40.75 crore in its kitty and has a maximum of seven slots to be filled.
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have retained their core players including skipper Rohit Sharma, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav. The franchise has also retained Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Nehal Wadhera, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Shams Mulani and Arjun Tendulkar.
The overseas contingent of Tim David, Dewald Brevis, Jason Behrendorff, and Cameron Green continue with Mumbai Indians. The franchise in the run-up to the retention deadline also acquired Romario Shepherd through trade. The Mumbai Indians have released Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Ramandeep Singh, Raghav Goyal, Arshad Khan, and Hrithik Shokeen. They also released Sandeep Warrier, Chris Jordan, and Riley Meredith.
Kolkata Knight Riders have retained 13 players including skipper Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana. It has a purse of 32.7 crore for the auction.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings has retained 19 players including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It has released eight players and now is left with a purse of Rs 31.4 crore and has six slots to fill.
Sunrisers Hyderabad has retained 19 players including Rahul Tripathi, T Natarajan, and Glenn Phillips.
Punjab Kings has retained 17 players including opener Shikhar Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar and Sikandar Raza.
The Lucknow Super Giants have retained KL Rahul, all-rounder Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, swashbuckling West Indis batter Nicholas Pooran, Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Devdutt Padikkal (Traded from Rajasthan Royals), Ayush Badoni, Prerak Mankad, K Gowtham, Mark Wood, Naveen ul Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Amit Mishra and Mayank Yadav.
The franchise has released Romario Shepherd (traded to Mumbai Indians, Avesh Khan (traded to Rajasthan Royals), Daniel Sams, Karun Nair, Jaydev Unadkat, Manan Vohra, Karan Sharma, Suryansh Shedge, Swapnil Singh and Arpit Guleria.
Newly appointed Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer in an official statement said, “LSG has built a strong foundation in the past two years and achieved good success. We want to take it to the next level by improving our squad constantly and that is what we will try to achieve in the auction.” (With Agency inputs)
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