One transfer, 3 teams suffer, 2 get knocked out of IPL 2024 knockouts, the other trying hard to make it to top 4. Only one common factor unites these three teams – ‘The Hardik Pandya Transfer’. Not only did Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans suffer, Royal Challengers too suffered from the transfer.
Mumbai Indians in shambles
Mumbai Indians decided to bring back Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans and broke the bank for him. Pandya re-joined his former team and was appointed as the skipper of the side. This raised a huge concern, not just among the fans but also among the team itself.
Not just the MI fans, but fans in general started to boo Hardik Pandya across all stadiums in India. This had an adverse effect on the player which in turn affected the entire team. The conflict and power struggle between Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya was evident in the field, in the end Mumbai Indians became the first team to be eliminated from the race for the Playoffs.
What MI management hoped form, happened the opposite. The team got split in two, with seniors and others siding with Rohit. But in the end it was the Mumbai Indians team that suffered in general.
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Gujarat Titans suffer most
Another team that suffered a lot was Gujarat Titans. From appearing in back to back finals, to being knocked out from playoffs, sums up GT’s journey in IPL 2024. GT failed to replace Hardik with a fellow player of his calibre. Moreover the team continued to suffer in the absence of Mohammed Shami.
Another factor for GT’s downfall was the inexperience in captaincy by Shubman Gill. Despite getting the money from Hardik’s trade off, GT ended up as the loser from the deal. They lost their skipper and one of the ace all-rounders of India.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru fail to gain a spinner
Mumbai Indians made money for the Hardik Pandya by trading off Cameron Green to RCB. While Royal Challengers Bengaluru got a ace all-rounder, all their money was spent. This restricted RCB from buying a spinner. Since the departure of Yuzvendra Chahal from the team 3 years back, RCB is yet to get an ace spinner in their ranks.
RCB made a late stride up the Points Table raking up 5 consecutive wins. RCB currently stands 5th in the table with 6 wins from 13 games. Had the team got a good spinner in their ranks, they could have well established themselves in the top 4.
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