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Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indian and Rajasthan Royals cricketer, talked about how the prospective trade of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians is like striking gold for the five-time IPL champions. The 37-year-old also mentioned how only twice that a captain has been traded in the IPL which included himself and Ajinkya Rahane, before the ongoing reports surrounding Hardik Pandya surfaced.
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As per the report from ESPNcricinfo, Hardik Pandya, the IPL-winning captain of Gujarat Titans from 2022, is set to return to his former team, Mumbai Indians, in an all-cash deal. MI is set to pay ₹15 crore to GT as his salary with an undisclosed transfer fee from which the Indian all-rounder could earn up to 50%.
In a video on his official Instagram account, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about the prospective trade of Hardik Pandya from GT to MI and said, “If it is true, Mumbai Indians have struck gold. So if it’s true, it’s a complete cash trade from whatever I read. There’s no player that Mumbai is giving, Mumbai Indians have never given players on trade, very rare. I don’t think it has happened ever. But how does that XI look if Hardik goes back? Hardik is an MI-grown player.”
The Indian off-spin bowler shared a fascinating fact about how only two captains had been traded in IPL history before Hardik Pandya’s reported trade deal came to light. He said, “There have been three times where a captain has been traded, one, yours truly, number two is Ajinkya Rahane, now number three Hardik Pandya. The only difference between us and Hardik is that he’s an IPL-winning captain which completely changes the balance for even Gujarat Titans.”
