Hardik Pandya's potential return to the Mumbai Indians was the talk of the town as the clock wound down until the Indian Premier League 2024 trade and retention deadline. Initially named among the Gujarat Titans retainees, Pandya still ended up back in Mumbai colours after the teams reached an agreement - pushed by the player himself - on a straight cash deal. To make space for the Indian all-rounder on their roster, MI sent Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore. (IND vs AUS Match Blog | Cricket News)
As Pandya gears up to play for Mumbai Indians again, we reflect back on some of the other high-profile names who once wandered away from the teams where they broke through only to return at a later date.
1. Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians)
Partaker in many a championship winning season for Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya's inclusion in the player pool for the Indian Premier League 2022 mega auction sparked many debates. Mumbai's decision not to hold onto Pandya may have been understanable in the moment, but how far he has come since he was picked up by Gujarat Titans in the player draft makes it look foolish in retrospect. Pandya has become a leader and a talisman during his time with the Titans, leading them to successive finals and winning one.
Nevertheless, Mumbai corrected their egregious error ahead of IPL 2024 by trading the Indian all-rounder from Gujarat pre-auction. Pandya will now return to the side he started his IPL career with - and may even lead them in the forseeable future should Rohit Sharma decide to step down.
2. Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals)
After waiting for his opportunity to come for four years during which he was attached to the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sanju Samson entered the 2013 IPL auction yet to make his competition debut. Rajasthan Royals entrusted the then fresh-faced batter with the reigns to set the tempo for their top order and he didn't disappoint; Samson played 38 games over the next three seasons and made one short of 750 runs. He would have continued, in all likelihood, with RR beyond 2015, had the team not been banned for two years.
Free agent once again, Samson joined Delhi Capitals (formerly Daredevils) in 2015 but failed to nail down a fixed spot for himself in the playing eleven. Consequently, Delhi released Samson in 2018 and he promptly returned to Rajasthan to pick up where he had left off. Six seasons and several more runs later, Samson is now the Rajasthan Royals captain and the highest run-scorer in the franchise's history.
3. Gautam Gambhir (Delhi Capitals)
Back in the nascent days of the Indian Premier League, Gautam Gambhir led the Delhi Daredevils charge from the front, helping the team fight for playoff spots year after year. Gambhir, whom Delhi had picked up in the first-ever auction, made the second-most runs in the first IPL season and had touched the 1000-run mark by the second. Yet, in 2011, Gambhir found himself in the player pool for the auction, albeit with no shortage of suitors. Back then, he became the IPL's most expensive buy when Kolkata Knight Riders picked him and made him the face of their team.
And what a decision that proved to be! Gambhir led KKR to two titles and several close calls until 2017, after which he returned to Delhi to see out what remained of his career. The opener's move back to his hometown team in 2018, though, fell below expectations and he didn't even last the whole season as the team's captain.
4. Yuvraj Singh (Punjab Kings)
Hailing from Chandhigarh, Yuvraj Singh played for Punjab Kings (formerly Kings XI Punjab) as their icon player and captain in the first season of the Indian Premier League. Singh set the tone for Punjab's early forays toward the playoffs, but fell short of leading his team to a title win - a prospect they still await at the time of writing.
Those initial years in Punjab paved the way for the all-rounder to embark on a long-winding road, one that ended up back at his former team via Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Singh's homecoming, however, wasn't up to the mark we had come to expect from a character of his stature; he left Punjab again after just one season, failing to nail down a position in the team, and finished his career at Mumbai Indians.
5. David Warner (Delhi Capitals)
Delhi Daredevils provided David Warner his breakthrough in the Indian Premier League - something which should not surprise the DC faithful given their history of producing (but not always capitalising on) promising talents. Warner lasted five years in Delhi between 2009 and 2013, before being sent into the 2014 player auction where he would be picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Warner captained SRH between 2015 and 2018, and then again from 2020, but ended up returning to Delhi in 2022 for a meagre INR 6.25 crores - a bargain for someone of his qualities. He led Delhi Capitals in runs scored in 2022 and captained them to a mid-table finish in 2023 after Rishabh Pant was ruled out for the season.
