IPL: When two unhappy sides met, it made for the Hardik-Arshdeep trade
Franchises don’t let go of prized Indian players unless they want out, like Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s reign in Barcelona lasted a single rocky season after he hit out at Pep Guardiola’s tactics and was loaned to AC Milan. As IPL trades gain currency, franchises know the best chance of getting a prized Indian asset is when a player is disgruntled. Here, there were two.
That’s how Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya came to be traded. Under normal circumstances, Punjab Kings or Mumbai Indians would not give up Arshdeep or Hardik for one indifferent season. Both are India T20I regulars and world-class in what they do. One a leading left-arm swing bowler in his prime with the ability to bowl across phases. Another a one-of-a-kind pace bowling allrounder, although his dual ability comes with a rider over his fitness.
After weeks of prolonged discussions exploring a gamut of options across teams, the two franchises spotted and exchanged two unhappy players. The dissatisfaction was mutual at the franchise level too.
Deep Dive
Hardik’s departure from MI looked inevitable last season itself, when the five-time winners ended a third successive year tamely under his captaincy. The allrounder’s return home from Gujarat Titans had gone horribly wrong, marred by friction among the senior playing group, especially in 2024.
Subsequently, after intervention from the management, the players found a working relationship going — they even won two T20 World Cups for India together in the interim. But Hardik wasn’t able to inspire MI with man management skills or individual performances.
With Arshdeep, Punjab Kings officials are tightlipped about what went wrong, but team discipline is known to have been one reason. Head coach Ricky Ponting calls all the shots in the franchise and letting go of Arshdeep is believed to have been the overwhelming sentiment than reaching out to Hardik. That Hardik has worked under Ponting — for MI in 2015 and 2016 — and spoke glowingly about the Australian may have made the trade easier.
Before Arshdeep reached the discussion stage, PBKS had pitched Marco Jansen, but talks did not gain steam once it became clear MI also wanted Yuzvendra Chahal. PBKS were unwilling to part with the senior spinner, certainly not as a twin-player trade-off for Hardik.
There were discussions with many other franchises, including with Hardik’s former team Gujarat Titans. While Hardik wanted to return as captain, it wasn’t his pre-condition. MI’s ask was stiff. They wanted Kagiso Rabada in return and the talks did not go far.
Before the MI think tank made it clear they wanted a quality fast bowler for the trade to go through, they had held discussions with Rajasthan Royals for Yashasvi Jaiswal. While MI has an opening pair in place for next year in Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickleton, Jaiswal was a tempting option as a long-term bet.
Ultimately, the cricket brains in the franchise were known to be content with their settled batting core in Rohit-Rickleton-Tilak Varma-Suryakumar Yadav-Naman Dhir-Will Jacks/Sherfane Rutherford. With Rohit, the franchise is hopeful of him playing beyond 2027 and into the next cycle, although that’s far into the future.
Also Read: With Hardik Pandya gone, who leads the Mumbai Indians captaincy race, Rohit Sharma or Tilak Varma?
Yashasvi Jaiswal trade talks
Like PBKS and MI, Jaiswal’s entry in trading discussions were sparked by the player seeking a change. Over the last two seasons, Jaiswal has found himself overshadowed by young sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He was also overlooked as captain with RR picking Riyan Parag. But the India left-hander enjoys great rapport with head coach Kumar Sangakkara and it’s not a relationship beyond repair like it was earlier with Sanju Samson.
While other suitors have queued up for Jaiswal, the franchise in pink could still convince the player to stay.
Much the same way, PBKS and MI had the fallback option of retaining Arshdeep and Hardik, until they found a perfect alignment of circumstances for the high-profile trade to go through.
Hardik’s player fee too rises from ₹16.35 crore to ₹18 crore to match Arshdeep’s valuation, making it a perfectly rounded trade. The sweetener is that both franchises now have the option of adding ₹11 crore and ₹12.5 crore respectively to their purse by releasing Marcus Stoinis and Trent Boult.
