Mumbai: For the first time in his career, Shardul Thakur, captaining Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy this season, is set for a ‘homecoming’ of sorts in the Indian Premier League (IPL).TOI has learnt that the 34-year-old pace bowling allrounder, who has played 13 Tests, 47 ODIs and 25 T20Is for India and taken 131 international wickets, but is currently out of the Indian team, is likely to turn out for the Mumbai Indians from the upcoming season.
According to a source tracking developments, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are in touch with Mumbai Indians for two separate deals involving Thakur and left-arm seamer Arjun Tendulkar. The conversations are in the final stages for Tendulkar, who could finally wear different colours in the IPL.“Both the deals are straight-forward, all-cash and independent to each other. It’s not a trade,” explains the source.On Thursday, the LSG management, led by their team owner Sanjeev Goenka, captain Rishabh Pant and the new-look coaching staff of Justin Langer (head coach), Tom Moody (LSG’s global director of cricket) and Bharat Arun (bowling coach), were in a huddle to finalise their retentions and releases ahead of the November 15 deadline.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will officially announce all the transfers alongside the list of player retention and releases on Saturday – a month ahead of the IPL auction in Abu Dhabi on December 15.
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At the behest of former India pacer Zaheer Khan, who was a mentor with LSG last season, Thakur was picked up by LSG as a replacement player for his base price of Rs 2 crore after going unsold in the mega IPL auction in Jeddah last year. Starting off impressively, he took 13 wickets in 10 matches@28.84, with a best haul of four for 34, though his economy rate was 11.02. Getting to bat in just five innings, Thakur scored 18 runs@6.00.Tendulkar has been a part of the Mumbai Indians setup for a couple of seasons, and played five games, scoring 13 runs and taking three wickets. He was picked at his base price in both the auctions. The 26-year-old left-arm seamer was on the bench for the entire last season.Having moved to Goa from Mumbai in 2022 in domestic cricket, Tendulkar has played 21 first-class matches (47 wickets@35.63), and 42 white-ball games.
