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The Hardik Pandya trade saga that has been the talk of the town for the last 2-3 day kept all the IPL fans and media on a cliffhanger is finally looking to settle with Hardik Pandya being traded to Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans in an all-cash deal.
Mumbai Indians will give a sum of 15.5 crores as his annual fees for a season and will pay an additional fee known as transfer free to Pandya’s previous owners Gujarat Titans which will be shared with Hardik Pandya on a 50:50 basis.
To accommodate Hardik Pandya in their squad Mumbai Indians traded Cameron Green for 17.5 crores to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Mumbai Indians also released some other key players from their squad including the paceman Jofra Archer, who is often marred with injuries.
Although Gujarat Titans might have gotten a good deal for Hardik Pandya and they will enter the upcoming auction with a huge purse Hardik has been their captain and mainstay since they entered the IPL scene in 2022 and won them their maiden IPL title in their first year itself, securing a 2nd position in their second season.
Hardik Pandya also has a fragile body and is currently suffering an ankle injury but he is still arguably the best white ball all-rounder going around in the world and was their captain too and filling his boots in the Gujarat setup won’t be an easy task.
Gill named as Gujarat’s new captain
The 24-year-old Indian opener Shubman Gill has been announced as Gujarat’s new captain and will lead the franchise in IPL 2024. The prolific Indian batter has been churning runs in the International arena in the last year or so and was the IPL’s highest run-getter (890) bagging the Orange cap and even coming close to Virat’s most runs (973 runs) in an IPL season ever.
Being a permanent member of the team, it would be interesting to see how a star young player will lead a team of fully experienced campaigners such as Kane Williamson, Mohammed Shami, and Rashid Khan and if he could lead the side with authority among such stalwarts to the heights that his predecessor has already taken.