IPL trade deals that changed franchises without an auction

However, some of the league’s most consequential deals have happened without an auctioneer in sight. They have been negotiated quietly between franchises, with the player involved, and then taken through the league’s approval process.

The latest Hardik Pandya saga is a reminder of just how much power the trade window now carries. The Mumbai Indians captain, whose future at the franchise has been uncertain after a difficult 2026 season, held talks with Gujarat Titans over a possible return, The Indian Express reported.

GT were open to the possibility and had discussed it with current captain Shubman Gill. But Pandya’s condition that he return as captain became the deal-breaker. The episode is significant not merely because of Pandya’s history with Gujarat. It shows how far the IPL trade has evolved.

A player is no longer simply moved from one squad to another. A trade can involve an existing salary, a transfer fee, purse management, the balance of a playing XI and, in the case of a player such as Pandya, the question of who leads the franchise.

That is what makes the Hardik situation particularly fascinating when placed alongside the IPL’s biggest trades. Because the history of the trade window shows that the biggest deals have rarely been just about swapping one cricketer for another. They have been about rebuilding teams without rebuilding through an auction.

Sanju Samson: The new benchmark

The latest benchmark came before IPL 2026, when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals pulled off a deal involving two of their biggest names.

Sanju Samson moved from Rajasthan Royals to CSK at his existing league fee of ₹18 crore, while Ravindra Jadeja moved in the opposite direction and had his fee revised from ₹18 crore to ₹14 crore. Sam Curran was also part of the transaction. The IPL officially confirmed the trade in November 2025.

In terms of the contracted value attached to a single player, Samson’s ₹18 crore move is now the biggest headline figure in the IPL’s trade history. But the more important part of the deal was what it represented.

Samson was not an ordinary squad player. He was Rajasthan’s captain and one of the franchise’s most recognisable Indian players. CSK were not merely acquiring a wicketkeeper-batter; they were acquiring an established Indian top-order player with leadership experience.

Rajasthan, meanwhile, were not simply selling a player. They were changing the composition of their core by bringing back Jadeja, one of the franchise’s former stars, while also adding Curran.

It was a reminder that the trade window can be used for something the auction cannot easily replicate: a negotiated exchange of established assets.

There is no bidding war. No uncertainty over whether another franchise will take the player. The two teams decide what they believe their respective assets are worth and structure the transaction accordingly.

Cameron Green: The trade that helped make Hardik possible

If Samson represents the latest evolution of the trade market, Cameron Green represents one of its clearest examples of how trades can be used to solve an immediate financial problem.

Mumbai Indians had bought Green for ₹17.50 crore at the 2023 auction. A year later, he was traded to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an all-cash deal.

The reason was not particularly complicated. Mumbai wanted to bring Hardik Pandya back. Green’s ₹17.50 crore contract was therefore not just the value of an Australian all-rounder moving from one franchise to another. It became part of the financial architecture that allowed MI to accommodate Pandya.

RCB took on Green’s existing contract, while MI freed up a substantial portion of its salary commitment. It remains one of the clearest examples of the trade window functioning almost like a financial restructuring mechanism.

And there is an important irony when viewed from today’s Hardik saga. The last time Pandya’s future became the centre of the trade market, Cameron Green was one of the pieces that helped make the move happen.

Now, two seasons later, Pandya himself is again at the centre of trade speculation.

Hardik Pandya: When a trade became a captaincy decision

Pandya’s 2024 move from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians was different from almost every major trade before it.

GT had won the IPL in their first season in 2022 under Pandya and reached the final again in 2023. Mumbai then brought him back to the franchise where he had begun his IPL career.

The deal was an all-cash transaction. MI paid Pandya’s ₹15 crore league fee, while GT also received an undisclosed transfer fee. Reports at the time said Pandya could receive up to 50% of that transfer fee under the trade provisions. But the real value of the transaction was not captured by ₹15 crore. It was the captaincy.

Mumbai appointed Pandya captain ahead of IPL 2024, replacing Rohit Sharma. Gujarat, meanwhile, handed the leadership to Shubman Gill. That made the trade much bigger than a conventional player movement.

It effectively transferred a franchise’s leadership role from one player to another team. And now the circle has almost closed. After MI lost 10 of their 14 matches in IPL 2026 and finished ninth, Pandya’s position became uncertain. The Indian Express reported that MI’s management was not keen to retain him as captain and was also evaluating his role in the squad. Against that backdrop came the possibility of a return to Gujarat.

GT were willing to consider the move. Gill was consulted and agreed to the possibility of Pandya returning. But when Pandya’s captaincy condition entered the discussion, the proposal stopped there. That is an extraordinary evolution of the trade market.

Shardul Thakur: When a ₹10.75 crore contract becomes a trade asset

Kolkata Knight Riders’ acquisition of Shardul Thakur from Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2023 was another important step in the evolution of the market. Delhi had bought Thakur for ₹10.75 crore at the 2022 mega auction. After one season, he was traded to KKR in an all-cash deal. KKR’s Aman Khan moved to Delhi as part of the broader transaction.

Thakur had taken 15 wickets for Delhi in 2022 but also conceded at close to 10 runs an over. He scored 120 runs at a strike rate of 137.93. The trade illustrated another function of the window: contract correction. Delhi did not have to wait for Thakur to enter an auction and risk losing control over what they might receive in return.

KKR, meanwhile, acquired an India all-rounder with a sizeable existing contract. The deal showed how a player can retain a financial value inside the IPL even when his previous franchise decides that the contract no longer fits its plans.

Lockie Ferguson: GT’s first major post-title reshuffle

Gujarat Titans had just won the IPL in 2022 when they began using the trade window to reshape their squad.

Lockie Ferguson, bought for ₹10 crore at the 2022 mega auction, moved to KKR before the 2023 season. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was also traded to KKR from GT.

Ferguson’s move was particularly interesting because GT were the defending champions. The franchise was not rebuilding after failure. It was attempting to optimise a winning squad.

KKR, meanwhile, were using the trade window to acquire an established overseas fast bowler without waiting for the auction.

Cricbuzz reported at the time that Ferguson’s move was KKR’s second ₹10 crore acquisition of the trading window, after Shardul Thakur.

Mohammed Shami: The ₹10 crore reset

The trade market has also become a way of correcting an auction decision.

Mohammed Shami joined Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹10 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction. After a difficult season, in which he took six wickets in nine matches, he was traded to Lucknow Super Giants ahead of IPL 2026 at the same fee.

For LSG, the attraction was obvious: a proven Indian fast bowler with a long IPL record. For SRH, the move allowed them to move on from an expensive contract that had not produced the expected returns.

It is a different kind of trade from Pandya or Samson. There is no leadership transfer or blockbuster swap at its heart. It is portfolio management.

A franchise makes an expensive acquisition, decides that the fit has not worked and finds another franchise willing to take the contract off its hands.

Ravichandran Ashwin: A trade built around role, not price

The Ravichandran Ashwin trade in 2019 demonstrates why simply ranking trades by money can be misleading.

Kings XI Punjab traded their captain to Delhi Capitals for ₹1.5 crore and Jagadeesha Suchith. Ashwin retained his ₹7.6 crore league fee, the value attached to his IPL 2018 auction contract. The distinction matters.

The ₹7.6 crore was not the cash amount exchanged between the two franchises. It was Ashwin’s existing league fee.

The actual reported trade consideration was ₹1.5 crore plus Suchith. That deal was about cricketing roles.

Ashwin had captained Punjab for two seasons, but the franchise was looking for a different direction after finishing seventh in 2018 and sixth in 2019. Delhi, meanwhile, saw a tactical fit for an experienced off-spinner at a venue where spin could play an important role.

The trade shows why the IPL’s non-auction market cannot always be understood through headline numbers alone. A ₹7.6 crore player does not necessarily mean ₹7.6 crore changed hands.

That distinction is crucial when analysing the business of IPL trades.

Shikhar Dhawan: The three-player equation

Then there was Shikhar Dhawan’s 2018 move from Sunrisers Hyderabad to Delhi Daredevils. Unlike the cash-heavy deals of the later IPL, this was a genuine multi-player exchange.

Dhawan moved to Delhi, the franchise where he had begun his IPL career, while SRH received Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma. At the time, the deal was about immediate value.

Delhi got an established India opener who had already become one of SRH’s most productive batsmen. SRH received three players who could potentially contribute across different departments.

The long-term story, however, became much more interesting. Abhishek Sharma eventually developed into one of India’s most exciting young T20 batters.

That does not mean the original trade should be judged purely with hindsight. But it does demonstrate one of the fundamental realities of the IPL trade window:

The IPL’s secret market: From Hardik Pandya to Sanju Samson, the trades that changed franchises without an auction

Before the crores: Where the trade window began

The IPL’s first trading window opened in 2009, and the early deals looked very different from the transactions of today.

One of the early landmark swaps involved Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils, with Shikhar Dhawan and Ashish Nehra moving between the franchises.

Another prominent 2009 exchange saw Robin Uthappa move from Mumbai to Royal Challengers Bangalore, with Zaheer Khan going the other way.

There were no ₹15 crore or ₹18 crore contracts dominating the headlines. The early trades were primarily about squad construction. The modern IPL has changed that equation dramatically.

Today, an established player can carry not only a salary but also a leadership role, commercial value, brand equity and strategic importance to a franchise.

The trade window is becoming a second auction without the theatre

That is perhaps the most important development in the IPL’s trade economy. The auction is public. The trade window is not.

The auction creates a visible market price because multiple franchises compete for the same player. A trade, by contrast, produces a negotiated price between two teams.

The player contract moves. The salary-cap implications move. The franchise may negotiate additional transfer considerations.

And the player has to be part of the process. The IPL’s current player regulations also show how the financial architecture around players has evolved. For the 2025-27 cycle, the salary cap comprises the auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees, with the salary cap set at ₹151 crore for 2026.

That makes the trade window increasingly important because franchises are not merely managing 25-player squads. They are managing a financial portfolio.

The Hardik question is bigger than Hardik

That is why the current Pandya saga matters. If Hardik stays at Mumbai, MI will have to decide whether they want to continue with him as captain, alter his role or rebuild around him in another capacity.

If he leaves, the acquiring franchise will have to decide not just what players or money it is willing to surrender, but whether it is willing to accommodate his leadership ambitions.

And Mumbai will have to answer the other half of the trade equation: what can they get in return that makes them better without making a direct rival better?

That has always been the unwritten calculation behind the IPL trade window. The 2024 Pandya deal showed how a trade can alter a franchise’s leadership hierarchy. The Green deal showed how one trade can financially facilitate another.

The Samson-Jadeja-Curran transaction showed that marquee players and leadership identities can be exchanged in a single piece of business. The Shardul and Shami deals showed how franchises can use trades to correct expensive squad decisions.

The Dhawan and Ashwin deals showed that cricketing fit can matter as much as headline valuation. And the early trades showed where the system began.

What has changed is the scale. The IPL’s auction remains the league’s great public marketplace. But the trade window has quietly become something else: a private market for proven assets, where franchises can negotiate value, reshape leadership and repair their balance sheets without waiting for the hammer to fall.

And if Hardik Pandya is traded again, the deal will not simply enter the record books as another player movement. It will be the latest test of how much power the IPL’s private market now has.