Hardik Pandya made a shock move back to his first franchise, which he calls his “home”, the Mumbai Indians ahead of the IPL 2024
Hardik Pandya had been released by MI ahead of the IPL 2022 mega-auction and the Gujarat Titans, his geographical home state, roped him in. The Baroda-born led them brilliantly to the IPL 2022 trophy and IPL 2023 runner-up position. Under Pandya, GT topped the league stage in both seasons.
The 30-year-old was building his legacy at GT, but then decided to return to MI for multiple reasons. One of them is the opportunity to captain Mumbai Indians; it is all but certain that Hardik Pandya will take over the MI captaincy from Rohit Sharma, either ahead of IPL 2024 or the next season after this.
Coming to Gujarat Titans, while GT have appointed Shubman Gill as their new skipper, they will need a world-class all-rounder to fill Hardik Pandya’s shoes as a player.
How much money Gujarat Titans has for IPL 2024 auction?
After the release of the INR 15 crore of Hardik Pandya, the Gujarat Titans have a big purse of INR 38.15 Crore. With such a huge amount in their purse, the Titans can bag a couple of big names in the auction.
Gujarat Titans likely to go after Rachin Ravindra as the replacement of all-rounder Hardik Pandya
To replace Pandya as an all-rounder, the Gujarat Titans are likely to go after New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra. The 24-year-old Rachin Ravindra made a massive splash at the World Cup 2023, by finishing as the 4th highest run-scorer in the tournament.
Batting as an opener and at number 3, Rachin scored 578 runs in the World Cup at an average of 64 and a strike rate of 106. The left-hander cracked 3 centuries and 2 fifties. Rachin also bowls left-arm finger spin regularly and can be used as a good match-up spinner for right-handed batters.
Rachin Ravindra has played a decent amount of T20 cricket – the youngster has featured in 53 T20 matches but is yet to make his IPL debut.
Given that he is young, has bright future potential, and is an all-rounder, Rachin is likely to go for a hefty amount in the IPL 2024 auction. Gujarat, who has a purse of INR 38.15 Crore, might go hard for Rachin.
