If the trade goes ahead, it will possibly be the biggest player trade in IPL history. However, neither franchise has yet made any public comments on the trade. The biggest challenge for Mumbai is to have a proper exchange for trading. After the last auction, Mumbai only had INR 0.05 crore (approximately $6,000) left. The franchises will get an additional 5 million rupees (approximately $600,000) in their purse for the upcoming auction. This only means that Mumbai need to release players to finalize the Hardik trade. The retention deadline expires on November 26 at 4 pm IST.

If the trade goes through, Hardik will become the third captain to be traded after R Ashwin moved from Punjab Kings to Delhi Capitals, and Rajasthan Royals traded Ajinkya Rahane also to Capitals, in 2020.

When the Titans franchise, owned by global fund manager CVC Capital Partners, was born in 2021, they were allowed to pick three players from the group released by other franchises before the mega auction. The Titans signed Hardik and Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan for INR 15 crore each, with Shubman Gill as their third pick for INR 7 crore.

It was in Mumbai, where Hardik started his IPL career and became one of the best all-rounders in the game. Bought for INR 10 lakhs as an uncapped player in 2015, Hardik was part of Mumbai’s title-winning seasons in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.

After being signed by Mumbai ahead of every auction till 2021, Hardik was finally released ahead of the 2022 mega auction, a decision that came as a surprise. Mumbai were allowed to retain only four players that year and opted to keep Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard, paving the way for the Titans to hire Hardik as their captain.