Mumbai trade Hardik from Gujarat and trade Cameron Green to Bangalore

Mumbai have completed the trade for Hardik Pandya from Gujarat on deadline day, and also traded Australian all rounder Cameroun Green to Bangalore so that they can increase their purse value for the Ind T20 League player auction slated to be held on December 19. 

An Indian Cricket Board confirmed the news on Sunday although the franchises are yet to make the trade public. 

While Gujarat purse will augment by INR 15 crore, which was Hardik’s salary, and will also receive an additional transfer fee from Mumbai which they will need to reveal to the Indian T20 League. Hardik is believed to earn up to 50% of the transfer fee from Gujarat based on the mutual agreement. 

The developments happened past the 5 pm IST deadline for franchises to submit lists of players released and retained ahead of the bidding war. During the time of deadline, Hardik was still part of the Gujarat camp and Green was featured in Mumbai’s list of retained players. 

As per the Ind T20 Lague rules, the player trading window opens a month after a season concludes, stays open up to a week before the auction date, and then continues up until a month before the start of the subsequent season. So, the current trading window is open until December 12, with the auction scheduled for December 19, and will open again on December 20 up to a month before the 2024 season commences. 

By the retention deadline Mumbai had released 11 players, freeing up INR 15.25 crore in their auction purse. While that amount was just about enough to pay for the Hardik trade, it would have left Mumbai with very little to spend at the auction. However Mumbai added another  INR 17.70 crore to their purse by trading Green to Bangalore in an all-cash deal. 

It is learnt that Mumbai had approached at least two franchises for a plater swap before the retention deadline but the deals came to nothing. 

When the Gujarat franchise was founded in 2021, they were provided the luxury to pick three players from the pool released by other franchises before the 2022 auction. Gujarat signed Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan for INR 15 crore apiece, with promising talent Shubhman Gill as their third pick for INR 7 crore. 

Hardik led Gujarat to their maiden title in 2022, their debut season, and was the Player of the Match in the final against Rajasthan. In 2023, Gujarat reached the final for the second time in as many seasons, where they were beaten by Chennai. Under Pandya’s reign Gujarat had finished top of the points table in the league stages. 

Hardik amassed 833 runs in 30 innings, with an average of 41.65 and strike rate of 133.49. He also secured 11 wickets for them at an economy of 8.1. 

It was however Mumbai, who gave Hardik his first Ind T20 League game and over the years developed him into one of the best all rounders in the game. Purchased for INR 10 lakhs as an uncapped player in 2015, Hardik was a vital cog in Mumbai's title winning seasons in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. The all rounder was retained by them ahead of every auction until 2021, where he was finally released ahead of the 2022 mega auction. This move came as a surprise for many. Mumbai were allowed to retain only four players that year and they chose to keep Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Keiron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav, laying the foundation for Gujarat to sign Hardik as their skipper.