The Indian Premier League has seen players shifting from one team to another depending upon their performances. Franchises select those players depending on the price in the auction.
IPL 2024 saw few players going back to their old teams. It is an ideal platform for those players to showcase their performances accordingly and help them to win the title.
Here we look at the players who will be returning to their old team in IPL 2024:
- Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya will lead the Mumbai Indians squad replacing Rohit Sharma in IPL 2024. The stylish all-rounder featured for Gujarat Titans in 2022 and 2023. He was appointed as the captain of the GT side.
Under his captaincy, Gujarat Titans won the title on their first attempt in 2022 and then reached the finals of the 2023 edition losing to Chennai Super Kings. Pandya made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2015 and played till 2021. Under Rohit’s captaincy, Hardik Pandya won titles in 2015 and 2017. They won back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020.
Hardik Pandya would captain Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 and would be hoping to lead MI to their sixth title.
- Manish Pandey
Manish Pandey was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for Rs 50 Lakhs. He was a member of the winning team that won the IPL title in the 2014 edition. Pandey played for KKR from 2014 till 2017.
For the last 10 years, Manish Pandey played for Sunrisers Hyderabad from 2018-21. He was released by the SRH squad and bought by Lucknow Super Giants in the 2022 edition. Delhi Capitals bought him in the 2023 edition.
Kolkata Knight Riders bought him in the 2024 edition and hoping to perform brilliantly under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer helping them to win 3rd IPL title.
- Mitchell Starc
The left-arm-pace bowler from Australia, Mitchell Starc was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for a whopping price of 24.75 Crore. Starc made his IPL debut against Delhi Daredevils on 17th April 2014.
Starc featured in his last IPL match against Chennai Super Kings on 22nd May 2015. He has not played any matches since then. Starc was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 edition but could not play any match due to an injury.
Starc would be hoping to showcase his talent against his old team KKR and provide the early breakthroughs with which they struggled big time in the 2023 edition.
- Shreyas Gopal
Shreyas Gopal has been bought by the Mumbai Indians franchise in IPL 2024 for a base price of 20 Lakhs. He made his IPL debut for MI in the 2014 edition against Rajasthan Royals. Gopal played for Mumbai Indians till 2017.
He was bought by the Rajasthan Royals franchise in 2018 and played till 2021. During the 2019 edition, Gopal took a hattrick to dismiss Virat Kohli, AB de Villers, and Marcus Stoinis. His best season came during the 2019 edition where he picked 20 wickets from 11 matches at an economy of 7.22 runs per over and figures of 3 for 12.
Gopal was released by RR franchise and bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in IPL 2022. He featured only in 1 match with only 1 wicket. Gopal would be playing for Mumbai Indians this season and hoping to provide backup for Piyush Chawla.
- Shardul Thakur
Shardul Thakur returned to Chennai Super Kings for Rs 4.00 Crore this season. He played for the CSK team from 2018 and played till 2021. Thakur was part of the winning team which won after a two-year ban in 2018. CSK won the title in 2021 with him being in the playing XI. During the victorious run, Thakur took 21 wickets from 16 matches helping CSK to win the title.
He was bought by Delhi Capitals in the 2022 edition. Thakur was decent enough with 15 wickets from 14 matches at an economy of 9.79. His performances dipped during the 2023 edition being picked by KKR. He took only 7 wickets from 11 matches which did not help KKR cause.
With his superb form displayed during the Ranji Trophy 2023-24, Thakur would be hoping to prove his worth with his old team CSK starting from tomorrow onwards.
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