Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan could be the first big name in Indian cricket to move to another team under the IPL transfer window ahead of the players’ auction in mid-December.
Dhawan is likely to get transferred from his existing IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Mumbai Indians (MI) could rope in the southpaw who is apparently unhappy with the remunerations he’s getting.
Dhawan wasn’t retained by the Sunrisers ahead of the IPL 2018 auctions but was bought by using the right to match (RTM) card for Rs 5.2 crores in the players’ auction. The franchise had retained left-handed batsman David Warner (Rs 12 crore) and right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Rs 8.5 crore) during retention process.
According to reports, Preity Zinta co-owned Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) is also eyeing the Delhi batsman. If the deal gets finalised then Dhawan might be swapped with KXIP batsman Karun Nair.
An official announcement regarding the same is expected to be made soon as the transfer window for the ongoing season will end on November 15.
Dhawan has been a star performer for the SRH and he played a crucial role in IPL 2018 when his side went into the finals, eventually losing to MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He has played for Mumbai Indians in 2009 and 2010 before moving to Hyderabad in 2011.
Dhawan has so far scored 4057 runs from 143 games in the world’s best T20 league.
