India opener Shikhar Dhawan is all set to return to his home franchise in the Indian Premier League with Sunrisers Hyderabad reportedly agreeing to a trade with Delhi Daredevils.
Dhawan is set to be traded by Sunrisers in exchange for three players – Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem, ESPNCricinfo reported.
Sunrisers had chosen to retain just David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of the 2018 auction but paid Rs 5.2 crore to eventually buy him back. The report said there have been murmurs about Dhawan being unhappy about his price tag. Earlier reports said Mumbai Indians were keen to pair him up with Rohit Sharma in the IPL. There were even reports linking Dhawan with Kings XI Punjab.
Daredevils had bought the trio of Shankar (Rs 3.2 crore), Nadeem (Rs 3.2 crore) and Abhishek (Rs 55 lakh) for a total of INR 6.95 crore in the previous auction, compared with Dhawan’s price of Rs 5.2 crore, which means Sunrisers would need to pay the balance amount in cash, the ESPNCricinfo report clarified.
In an earlier trade, Quinton de Kock moved from Royal Challengers Bangalore to Mumbai Indians. RCB have also released Mandeep Singh to KXIP.
Dhawan played at his home ground for Daredevils in the first season of the IPL when he made 340 runs in 14 matches. His next destination was Mumbai Indians for two seasons where he did not have the best of records, making 241 runs in two seasons where he played just 15 matches combined.
His next stint was in Hyderabad, initially playing for Deccan Chargers for a year before joining Sunrisers in 2013.
Dhawan has been one of the mainstays of the Sunrisers lineup, striking a formidable partnership with David Warner and Kane Williamson at the top of the order. With a tally of 2768 from 91 innings, he is the franchise’s top run-getter.