NEWS
Follow UsShardul Thakur has become the latest name in the trade-off ahead of the IPL 2023 retention day deadline, with Delhi Capitals trading the Mumbai all-rounder to Kolkata Knight Riders in exchanging for the services of Mumbai allrounder Aman Khan in an all-cash deal on Monday.
ESPN Cricinfo reported that Chennai Super Kings, Thakur’s former franchise, along with Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings wanted Thakur in the pre-season trade but the Capitals decided to look the other way.
"Shardul Thakur has been traded from Delhi Capitals to Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming TATA IPL 2023. The all-rounder was bought by the franchise for INR 10.75 crore in the 2022 TATA IPL Auction," IPL confirmed in an official statement.
"Emerging all-rounder Aman Khan has been traded to Delhi Capitals from Kolkata Knight Riders. Aman, who made his IPL debut last season for KKR was acquired for INR 20 Lakh in the 2022 TATA IPL Auction," it added.
DC's heavy investment in Thakur didn’t reap enough dividends as he finished with 15 wickets in 14 matches at an economy of 9.79. With the bat also, he didn’t have a solid contribution, scoring just 120 runs at a strike rate of 138.
The Knight Riders have gone big in the pre-season retention window as they earlier traded in New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson and Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz from Gujarat Titans.
The retention window is scheduled to close on Tuesday at 5pm IST with November 15 being the deadline for the franchises to announce their list of release and retentions.
Earlier on the day, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Sam Billings has decided to turn his focus on the longest version of the game and thus decided against participating in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. Billing was purchased for his base price of 2 Cr by the Knight Riders and even played eight matches in 2022, scoring 169 runs at an average of 24.14 and a strike rate of 122.46. Later, Kolkata preferred Sheldon Jackson over him.
