Mumbai Indians’ Reported Rs 100 Crore Payment to Gujarat Titans for Hardik Pandya Sparks Controversy

An Indian Express report claims that there are speculations that GT not only added Rs 15 crore in their purse ahead of the IPL 2024 auction after trading Pandya to MI but also received a whopping sum of Rs 100 crore. Recently India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians (MI) captain for the upcoming IPL 2024. Pandya who was initially retained by Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL Auction 2024 was traded to MI from Gujarat Titans (GT) in an all-cash deal. An Indian Express report claims that there are speculations that GT not only added Rs 15 crore in their purse ahead of the auction after trading Pandya to MI but also received a whopping sum of Rs 100 crore. Furthermore, the transfer of the 30-year-old player was beneficial for the Titans in terms of their business. In the year 2021, CVC Capital made a substantial payment of INR 5625 to become a part of IPL. As a result of this deal, CVC Capital’s valuation is expected to experience a significant increase by the end of the fiscal year. With Pandya’s new responsibility as a captain, he also brought an end to Rohit Sharma’s ten-year stint as an MI skipper who led the team to record five IPL triumphs (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020). However, Pandya’s announcement as MI captain was not well received by Rohit Sharma fans as they started slamming the franchise on X (formerly known as Twitter) with trends of ‘ShameOnMI.’ Now, fans’ dissatisfaction with MI’s decision has impacted the five-time IPL winners so much that it has led to a drop of nine lakh followers on their official Instagram account. While it is uncertain whether Rohit voluntarily stepped down as captain or not, the consequence of MI’s decision has witnessed a drop from 13.2 million to 12.3 million followers on Instagram. As per sources, Pandya had set a condition of returning to Mumbai Indians only if he is offered the captaincy role.