Shardul Thakur (left) and Sherfane Rutherford.
X@IPL
With the player retention date closing in for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, Mumbai Indians (MI) on Thursday strengthened their squad by bringing two players via trades.
The five-time champions signed India pacer Shardul Thakur for Rs 2 crore in an all cash deal with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The Mumbai-based bowler had gone unsold in the the 2025 mega auction and was set to join Essex for a county stint.
However, he was called up by LSG to replace the injured Mohsin Khan for a base price of Rs 2 crore. The pacer picked up six wickets in his first two matches in IPL 2025, but struggled after that, playing only ten matches and taking 13 wickets with an economy rate of 11.02 in the season.
Further, MI also acquired West Indies middle-order batter Sherfane Rutherford from Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 2.6 crore.
Rutherford was a key member of the GT squad, having played 13 games and scoring 291 runs at an average of 32.22 and strike rate of 157.29. He was previously associated with MI in 2020, when the team won the IPL title, but had not featured in the playing 11 throughout the season. He was also benched for all matches in 2024 when he was with Kolkata Knight Riders.
In a separate deal, MI traded left-arm fast bowler Arjun Tendulkar to LSG for Rs 30 lakh. Tendulkar first featured in the IPL in the 2021 auction when MI picked him up for Rs 20 lakh.
He made his debut in the 2023 edition, where he went on to play four matches in the league. Overall, he has featured in five IPL games, grabbing three wickets at an economy rate of 9.36.
The last day to submit the list of retained players is November 15, while the auction will be held from December 14 to 17 in Abu Dhabi.