'The first sign of transfer fees in cricket like football'

NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (IANS): Former England cricketer turned commentator Michael Vaughan said "first sign of transfer fees in cricket like football" after rumors grew around Hardik Pandya to return to his old home Mumbai Indians for a whooping INR 15 crore ($1.8 million approx)

The IPL 2024 retention and trading is in process and deadline expires on November 26 at 4 pm IST.

"The @hardikpandya7 move back to Mumbai .. it's clearly happening .. The first sign of transfer fees in cricket like Football !!?? It's inevitable it would happen soon .. #TATAIPL," wrote Vaughan on X (previously Twitter).

Earlier on Friday ESPNcricinfo reported that the trade will be in an all-cash deal comprising Mumbai paying INR 15 crore ($1.8 million approx.) as Hardik's salary and an undisclosed transfer fee to Titans. Hardik stands to earn upto 50 per cent of the transfer fee.

In case the trade goes through, it will possibly be the biggest player trade in IPL history. Neither franchise has yet made any public comment on the trade though. The biggest challenge for Mumbai is to have an adequate purse for the trade. After the last auction, Mumbai had just INR 0.05 crore ($6000 approx.) left. Franchises will get an additional INR 5 crore ($600,000 approx.) in their purse for the forthcoming auction. This only means Mumbai need to release player(s) to finish the Hardik trade. The retention deadline expires on November 26 at 4pm IST.

Mumbai Indians (MI) have decided to release Jofra Archer and Cameron Green, who were signed for INR 175 million (17.5 crore) and INR 80 million (8 crore), respectively, to make the Hardik Pandya deal happen. Cricbuzz has confirmed the development regarding the five-time champions, who are all set to complete the biggest trade deal in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).