In 15 years of the Indian Premier League, the tournament has not seen a trade-off this big as yet. In what could be an unprecedented move during a transfer window of the T20 League, the captain of Gujarat Titans Hardik Pandya could be heading back “home” to Mumbai Indians.
While details of this transfer are not known as yet, the cricket fraternity is rife with speculations that Pandya’s move to MI could be a direct swap of captains, which means India’s recent World Cup captain Rohit Sharma could either be heading to Gujarat Titans or England pacer and the injury-prone Jofra Archer could make way for Hardik before the all-rounder eventually takes over as captain in 2025.
It may not be easy for MI to let Rohit leave, considering not just the amount of success he has achieved with the franchise but also given the more than a decade-long emotional connection.
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Globally, nonetheless, great players in other sports — Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi & the likes — are known to have left popular clubs and long-term associations to mark the final chapters of their careers.
However, it is also possible that MI may request Hardik to fill in for Archer’s position and wait for a year before taking over as captain by replacing Rohit.
What looks like happening right now is Pandya’s move to his home franchise where it all started for him back in 2015 where he was picked up by Mumbai Indians at his base price of Rs 10 lakh. With MI, Pandya got the big platform to showcase his skills and featured in four title-winning campaigns in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Success at Mumbai Indians meant Pandya emerged on national selectors’ radar and went on to make his T20I debut in 2016 and became a vital cog in the Indian set-up. After a lot of success with Mumbai Indians, he was released by the franchise ahead of the mega auction in 2022 and was picked up by Gujarat Titans – one of the two new franchises.
GT announced Pandya as their captain and the all-rounder built a solid side with coach Ashish Nehra and became only the second captain after Shane Warne to win the IPL title in his first year as captain. Pandya’s success as GT captain in the first year was no fluke as he followed it up with another successful year in 2023 where GT finished as runners-up.
The deadline for the IPL transfer window is November 26 and it remains to be seen how hard Gujarat Titans will bargain for their captain and star all-rounder.
Keep watching this space for more updates on what could well be the biggest move in the IPL yet.
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first published: November 22, 2023, 14:14 IST
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
