Delhi Daredevils on Monday confirmed the signing of Shikhar Dhawan in the Indian Premier League trade window, ahead of the auctions for the 12th season.

Confirming reports from last week, the trade from Sunrisers Hyderabad to Delhi is now confirmed with Dhawan returning to his home franchise after spending the inaugural season.

The Dhawan trade has happened in exchange for three players – Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem. Official confirmation on that front came from the Sunrisers camp.

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 Dhawan back with a Right To Match card. Sunrisers acknowledged in their release that Dhawan was 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. But eventually, Dhawan returned to Delhi.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that one of our long standing players, Shikhar Dhawan, will be playing for another franchise in 2019. We were delighted to pick Shikhar up in the auction after using one of its RTM cards,” said Sunrisers in a statement.

“Unfortunately, it has become apparent that the player has been unsettled ever since with the amount he was bought for in the auction, which we cannot rectify due to IPL rules. We value the great contribution that Shikhar has made over the years and saddened that due to financial reasons, he feels it’s time to move on,” the statement added.

Delhi Daredevils said in a statement, “We are thrilled at the prospect of having Shikhar turn up in DD colours for the next season of the IPL. Shikhar has had a hugely successful IPL career and will be an invaluable addition to team DD with the wealth of experience he brings. The Delhi fans love seeing their local boys in action and we’re sure they will get lots to cheer for this season with players of Shikhar’s caliber in the team.”

Shikhar Dhawan’s overall T20 record:

Matches: 216 (Innings: 215, Not outs: 20)
Runs: 6074
Highest score: 95*
Average: 31.80
100s / 50s: 0 / 46
Strike rate: 122.93

Data check: Shikhar Dhawan’s consistency makes him a good bet. Read here.

SRH's leading run-getters

Player Matches Runs
Shikhar Dhawan 91 2767
David Warner 59 2579
Kane Williamson 32 1146
Moises Henriques 42 755
Naman Ojha 56 584

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.

It was at Hyderabad, initially playing for Deccan Chargers for two years in 2011 and 2012 before joining Sunrisers in 2013, that Dhawan made himself a IPL force to be reckoned with.