Hardik Pandya’s trade to the Mumbai Indians could possibly be the biggest trade or transfer made in the history of the Indian Premier League. Hardik led the Gujarat Titans in two seasons, including a win in 2022, and will play for MI in the coming season. This trade has been done in an all-cash deal.
MI will pay INR 15 crore to GT as Hardik’s fee and undisclosed transfer charges. Notably, something similar happened in 2010 when Ravindra Jadeja left the Rajasthan Royals. But Jadeja was banned for a season. However, there is no ban or sanction on Hardik. But why? We will understand it here.
What is the Player’s Trade Window and How does it work?
Ahead of every IPL auction, there is an option for all franchises where they can transfer or trade players from other franchises. Once the trade is done, the franchise confirmed the list of retained and released players. All the released players come under the hammer, while the player’s salary gets added to the franchise’s purse value.
A player’s trade is of two types: the first is about swapping a player, and the other is an all-cash deal. The all-cash deal is when a buyer franchise pay a player’s fee to the franchise with a certain amount of undisclosed fee to them, who is contracted to the player.
Reason why Ravindra Jadeja was banned in the IPL 2010
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was banned from the 2010 season because he was found breaching the rules of trading. After a brilliant U19 stint in 2008, the Rajasthan Royals signed Jadeja in the inaugural edition. After the first season, the all-rounder demanded a hike in his salary from RR, which was denied by the franchise. Hence, he tried to reach out to MI for a discussion of a new contract, despite being contracted with Rajasthan.
He also denied signing the renewal contract ahead of 2010 with RR. It was against the player guidelines rule, and he suffered a one-season ban. In a statement released, IPL confirmed, “The ban was on account of Ravindra Jadeja not signing the renewal contract with the Rajasthan Royals and attempting instead to negotiate a larger financial contract with some of the other franchises. Thus, resulting in a serious non-adherence to the IPL player guidelines.”
How is trade of Hardik Pandya different from Jadeja’s violation of Player Guidelines?
The trade done between MI and GT are between two franchises, and there is no case of Hardik seeking a new contract with Mumbai. On the other hand, Jadeja himself was seeking a new contract for greater value, which was against the guidelines.
What will be the procedure to sign Hardik Pandya for MI?
Mumbai had a remaining purse value of only 5 lakh after the IPL 2023 auction. They got another INR 5 crore for the coming auction, but MI needed 15 crore to sign Hardik Pandya, which means they needed to release some of their high-profile players to sign the all-rounder. Hence, MI released Jofra Archer (8 crore) and Cameron Green (16.5 crore).
