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Follow UsAfter two glorious years with Gujarat Titans, Hardik Pandya is back to Mumbai Indians. It is an unprecedented trade. Teams have cut ties with their high-profile players in the past, but no side has relinquished their captain in this fashion. In addition, Pandya is the only established Indian pace-bowling all-rounder in the competition, with a vast gulf between him and the others, namely Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur.
Gujarat’s loss is Mumbai’s gain. Re-acquiring Pandya, Mumbai have found the only missing piece in their jigsaw. His absence after 2021 was felt immediately when Mumbai’s whole combination went for a toss in IPL 2022. They struggled to finish consistently with the bat and to create a sixth bowling option.
Mumbai tried to fill that gap with Cameron Green, buying him at a whopping INR 17.5 crore. Did he solve the purpose? Somewhat yes, somewhat no.
Green scored 452 runs with the bat, averaging 50.2 at a strike rate of 160.3. However, nearly 51% of his runs came at the home venue of Wankhede Stadium, the best batting venue in the tournament - at a run rate of 10.1. While Green’s batting numbers away from Wankhede were not bad - average 37.2, strike rate 149.7 - Mumbai had to shoehorn him at number three to optimise his batting expertise.
Moreover, Green was not an ideal all-round option, going at 9.5 runs per over in the 38 overs he bowled, picking only six wickets. Heading into the IPL 2023, Green had bowled only 22 overs in his T20 career, bowling in only eight innings in 21 T20s. Clearly, he wasn’t the best bowling option for Mumbai. Above everything else, he conceded an overseas spot.
With this Pandya trade, Mumbai have turned their misery into an advantage. They had to shell out 15 crore to sign Pandya. But to make room for Pandya in their budget, they traded out Green to Bangalore (RCB) for 17.5 crore. Thus, they have replaced an overseas seam-bowling all-rounder with an Indian option by freeing up 2.5 crore in their budget.
In an immediate impact of Pandya’s return, Mumbai can now have an all-India top five, or even top six if Tim David is placed at seven, on their batting card. With the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma in the side, it is easily the best Indian core of batting acquired by any IPL side.
There have been teams with top four Indian batters (Delhi Capitals, for example, when they had Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant in the top four in 2020/21) but six Indian batters in the same XI, five of whom are currently active in international cricket, is certainly a luxury.
This luxury places Mumbai in the best position to solve its spin bowling crisis. Although they have two Indian spinners who have done well for them in Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya, an overseas spinner who can also bat a bit will now be on their radar with another overseas spot freed up. Watch out for Mumbai going hard for Wanindu Hasaranga in the auction on December 19.
And the option of two overseas seamers to accompany Jasprit Bumrah is still on. You can sense Mumbai starting the season with Romario Shepherd at number eight, whom they have traded in from Lucknow. Shepherd, again, isn’t the best of options. However, if the Impact Player stays, Mumbai can easily make up for his volatile bowling with five other bowlers - Bumrah, Aakash Madhwal, who rose to prominence in the 2023 season, another overseas pacer, an overseas spinner and Pandya. With the bat, they can potentially extend the depth to number nine.
(Mumbai Potential Combination for IPL 2024 with Impact Player Rule:
1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Tim David*, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Overseas Spinner who can bat, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Akash Madhwal
*if they bat first, David goes out for the other overseas pacer in the second innings
**if they bowl first, the other overseas pacer goes out for David in the second innings)
While his batting fortunes have fluctuated, Pandya has been a reliable option with the ball since his return from injury. In IPL 2022 onwards, the 30-year-old snapped 42 wickets in 55 innings. His average of 29.7 and an economy of 8.1 are decent for an all-rounder.
Pandya’s tendency to hit the back-of-a-length area and move the new ball is also in sync with the conditions at the Wankhede. In fact, he opened the bowling 21 times for Gujarat and also pouched five wickets. Pandya's return adds another layer of flexibility to Mumbai’s roster.
Hence, the all-rounder completes Mumbai’s re-building process like the last brick in the wall and elevates it on numerous levels. Talk about killing two birds with one stone, Mumbai have killed six or seven with the stone with Pandya’s name engraved on it. It is a move definitely worth the ‘undisclosed transfer fee’ that Mumbai has paid to Gujarat. Whether it is right or wrong is still debatable.
As both Pandya and Mumbai Indians are set to benefit immediately from this deal, Cameron Green’s turn at yielding interests might come a bit later. His trade to RCB does not include any instant returns, but with Faf du Plessis presumably looking at his last season, Green can be a long-term opening batsman for RCB.
Similarly, there lies something for the national team, too. At Mumbai Indians, Pandya is supposed to play IPL in his typical finisher’s role. It will help him stay in sync to do the same job for India, which wasn’t the case when he had assumed the anchor’s cloak for the Titans.
It is a historic trading move in the Indian Premier League that benefits most parties. But for other teams, it is scary how this exchange plugs all the holes in Mumbai’s camp. It gives the five-time champions an opportunity to get back on a trophy-winning run again.
