New Delhi, Nov 11 Flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya moved to Punjab Kings from Mumbai Indians at an increased fee of Rs 18 crore, while PBKS traded pacer Arshdeep Singh for him, completing the biggest and most high-profile exchange of players in the history of IPL.
Pandya’s existing fee was Rs 16.35 crore. Arshdeep, on the other hand, moved to Mumbai at an unchanged price tag of Rs 18 crore, read a statement from the IPL.
Before this, Chennai Super Kings had acquired Sanju Samson this year for Rs 18 crore from Rajasthan Royals, who got Ravindra Jadeja for Rs 14 crore and Sam Curran for Rs 2.4 crore from CSK.
Transfer Fee is a bipartite agreement between two franchises and it is independent of retention fee (the salary paid to a player by the franchise).
It was mutually decided by the two teams that Pandya’s trade fee will go up by Rs 1.65 crore and as per existing rules, he would get 50 per cent of the hike. The rest would go to Mumbai Indians.
Pandya’s trade brings the curtain down on his second stint with MI, a franchise with which he won four IPL titles.
Having first joined MI in 2015, the 33-year-old had starring roles with both bat and ball during the team’s title-winning campaigns in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. After seven seasons with Mumbai, Pandya moved to Gujarat Titans (GT) at a fee of Rs 15 crore in 2022 and led the franchise to the title in its debut season. GT also reached the final in 2023.
Pandya returned to MI in 2024, taking over captaincy from stalwart Rohit Sharma but the franchise’s performance nose-dived and it was speculated that the injury-ravaged maverick was unhappy with how things panned out.
He struggled to win over fans after taking over leadership and was incessantly booed in the first season after his return. The second season was slightly better but by the end of the third season (2026), things went downhill.
Stories of dressing room dissension surfaced and it was clear that all wasn’t okay among the senior group of players, including now former T20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav, and pace legend Jasprit Bumrah who were bypassed for captaincy.
Rohit’s sudden removal also remained a thorny issue and it is now being widely speculated that he will return to captain the franchise for what could well be his last season.
He is expected to have Tilak Verma as his deputy and long-term successor.
“Hardik has shared some very special moments with Mumbai Indians. We have seen him grow as a cricketer, make his mark on the world stage and then return to lead the team,” MI owner Akash Ambani said in a statement.
“I have great respect for him, both as a cricketer and as a person, and wish him nothing but the very best for everything that lies ahead,” he added.
The team managed to win just four of its 14 matches in the season gone by and Pandya skipped the closing stages of the league due to fitness concerns.
However, he remains a force to reckon with as a player. Across 162 IPL matches, he has scored 2,955 runs at a strike rate of 146.28 and claimed 82 wickets, underlining his value as a proven match-winner.
“Some laughs, endless memories and a whole lot of madness! Thank you, Arsh for the memories,” Punjab Kings said in a statement acknowledging his contribution to the team.
Arshdeep, meanwhile, moves to MI after eight seasons with PBKS, where he made his IPL debut in 2019 and established himself as one of the competition’s leading left-arm fast bowlers.
With 111 wickets in 96 IPL matches, he is PBKS’ all-time leading wicket-taker.
He claimed 21 wickets in the 2025 season and followed that with 14 wickets in this year’s IPL.
The 27-year-old is also India’s leading wicket-taker in the T20 format with 151 scalps in 104 matches.
(PTI News)
