Hardik Pandya is set to return to Mumbai Indians in a one-way, all-cash trade in what is being tipped as the biggest transfer deal in the IPL’s history.

Neither Gujarat Titans, the franchise Pandya led for the last two seasons, nor Mumbai Indians have made it official but it is expected to be announced on Sunday, the last day for the retention and release of players by the franchises.

Mumbai Indians will now need to pay Rs 15 crore to Pandya, while Gujarat Titans will gain that same amount in their salary cap.

Gujarat Titans will receive an extra amount for releasing Pandya as a transfer fee, and the player is also entitled to get up to 50 per cent of the surplus money. It is the discretion of the BCCI and the franchises to disclose this amount.

Similarly, Mumbai Indians will have Rs 15 crore deducted from its salary cap.

Once the consent form is signed, “the consent form shall specify the percentage of any increase in the annual League Fee to be negotiated as part of the trade (the “Negotiated Increase”) which shall be paid to the Player (the “Player Percentage”). The Player Percentage shall never be more than 50% of the Negotiated Increase and the remainder of it shall be paid to the selling Franchisee (the “Franchisee Percentage”).”

The BCCI’s Player Regulation clause also states: “In the consent form, the Player will unconditionally agree to sign a new Player Contract with any other Franchisee for his original League Fee plus the agreed Player Percentage of any Negotiated Increase that may be agreed between any buying Franchisee and the selling Franchisee. The selling Franchisee will unconditionally agree to release the Player from his existing contract in return for the agreed Franchisee Percentage of the Negotiated Increase.”

If the Negotiated Increase for Pandya is Rs 40 crore, the Titans can share up to 50
per cent of that value with Pandya but that will not reflect on its player purse.

It was learnt that Mumbai Indians will not offer any player in return as a trade-off. The franchise will have to generate funds in its salary cap by releasing players. There is a possibility that they might release Cameron Green (Rs 17.5 crore) and Jofra Archer (Rs 8 crore).

The auction is in Dubai on December 19. Each franchise will be granted an additional fund of Rs 5 crore in their purse. After the last auction, Mumbai Indians had just Rs 5 lakh left in their kitty.

Pandya was a part of Mumbai Indians’ title-winning seasons in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. There is a strong possibility that the all-rounder will be promoted to the leadership role once Rohit Sharma decides to give up the captaincy.

Rumours of Pandya’s return to Mumbai Indians have been floating around since
the last IPL though both the franchises were tightlipped on the issue.

Hardik was released ahead of the 2022 mega auction by the Mumbai franchise. Each franchise was allowed to retain only four players and they chose to keep Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard. They successfully bid for Ishan Kishan at the auction.

Gujarat Titans, owned by global fund manager CVC Capital Partners, came into
existence in 2021. They picked Pandya (Rs 15 crore), Rashid Khan (Rs 15 crore) and Shubman Gill (Rs 7 crore) from the pool of players released by other franchises before the mega auction.

Shahbaz to play for SRH

Calcutta: Bengal left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed is set to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2024.

Shahbaz, who turned out for Royal Challengers Bangalore for the past few seasons, has been traded to Sunrisers in exchange for Mayank Dagar.

The spinner's performance in the IPL had helped him to play three ODIs and two T20Is.

RCB are also likely to release Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel.

Hasaranga, who missed the ODI World Cup because of a hamstring injury, played in just eight of the 14 matches last season. Patel was part of India's T20 World Cup squad in 2022 but didn't feature in a single match. He picked up 14 wickets at an economy of 9.65 in IPL 2023.

There is talk that KKR will release Shardul Thakur, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson. Mentor Gautam Gambhir will have the final say.