Hardik Pandya's trade from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians has raised a lot of eyebrows amongst the cricketing fraternity. Here's a look at the previous five biggest trades to have taken place in the marquee T20 event
Indian Premier League (IPL) has been recently in the news for the biggest trade in their history with Gujarat Titans' most decorated player and captain, Hardik Pandya being traded back to his original franchise team, Mumbai Indians, despite leading GT to an IPL title in 2022. (IND vs AUS Match Blog | Cricket News)
During the 2022 mega auction, MI did not retain the all-rounder as he wanted a captaincy role and GT picked him as their marquee signing. The all-rounder went to score 833 runs for his new team and scalped 11 wickets. However, it seems his 'wish' has been fulfilled, reportedly, and has seen him return to Mumbai in grandeur manner.
Here's looking back at the five biggest trades that took place in the IPL history.
Quinton de Kock:
The South African wicketkeeper-batter was the first-ever trade in IPL 2019. Royal Challengers Bangalore had brought the Proteas batter for INR 2.8 crore during the 2018 auction but traded him with MI for his under-whelming performances. However, the southpaw proved RCB wrong as he scored 1329 runs in three years at MI and also lifted two IPL titles (2019, 2020).
Shikhar Dhawan:
Indian batter Shikhar Dhawan was also traded during the IPL 2019 season. He was part of a 'unique trade' that involved three more players as well. Dhawan moved to Delhi Capitals from Sunrisers Hyderabad whereas Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma went the other way.
Trent Boult:
Kiwi left-arm pacer Trent Boult was traded with Delhi Capitals to Mumbai Indians during the IPL 2020 season. A 'monumental' one of sorts, Boult's trade with MI turned out to be a master-stroke as the New Zealand pacer helped the Mumbai-based team to win the IPL title that very season and also scalped 25 wickets.
Shardul Thakur:
Just ahead of the IPL 2023 mini-auction, Kolkata Knight Riders traded Shardul Thakur for a fee around INR 10.75 crore, the very same amount that Delhi Capitals snapped him up for. However, KKR were let down by the all-rounder's performances as Shardul finished the season with mere seven wickets and 113 runs from 11 games.
Ajinkya Rahane:
Delhi Capitals snapped up then India Test cricket team vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane from Rajasthan Royals and released Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tewatia. Rahane had a poor outing with DC that year as he played 9 IPL matches and scored just 113 runs with a S/R of 105.60.