Mumbai: All the drama on the IPL 2024 Retention day was around the Mumbai Indians franchise and for obvious reasons. First, there were talks that Hardik Pandya would leave Gujarat Titans and join his former team, but on Retention day things changed. There was a report at 5 PM yesterday that the Titans have successfully retained Hardik. But again, a couple of hours later, it was confirmed that Hardik had signed up with Mumbai. Now we get to know why the delay in signing Hardik actually took place. Former Australian cricketer Mike Hussey has claimed on Jio Cinemas that Rohit had initially rejected Hardik’s trade deal.
BREKING #IPL2024 :
Rohit Sharma rejected Hardik Pandya trade deal in last minute and told management to stick with Cameron Green. – Mike Hussey#IPLRetentions #IPL2024Auction #AUSvPAK #IPLAuction #TATAIPL #indvsaust20 #IPLTrade #MumbaiIndians #GujaratTitans #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/WHCFc92rEJ
— Raj Paladi (@IamRajPaladi) November 26, 2023
As per a report from Cricbuzz, Gujarat Titans took no player in return and it was an all-cash deal between the two franchises. The deal has not been made official yet by either of the franchises or he BCCI.
Earlier, Gujarat Titans retained its skipper Hardik Pandya, to end speculations about his move back to Mumbai Indians. However, the spculations are back again. Apart from retaining 18 players, including Hardik, Gujarat have released eight players, with Shivam Mavi and Alzarri Joseph being notable ones.
Over the last few days, speculations had risen of Hardik moving back to Mumbai, the franchise from where he started his IPL career in 2015. From an uncapped player, Hardik rose to be Mumbai’s vital cog in the wheel as a fast-bowling all-rounder, earning an India cap across all formats and was a member of their IPL title-winning seasons in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
He was released by Mumbai ahead of IPL 2022 mega auctions and became captain of Gujarat franchise, leading them to the title in their debut season in 2022, becoming Player of the Match in the final against Rajasthan Royals and led them to a runners-up finish in 2023.