Reports: Shikhar Dhawan to join Mumbai Indians for IPL 2019

Shikhar Dhawan to join Mumbai Indians: The Indian opener might be seen playing for a new franchise in IPL 2019.

India opener Shikhar Dhawan seems to be unhappy with his current IPL franchise in Sunrisers Hyderabad. If reports are to be believed, 32-year old Dhawan is at odds with the franchise regarding his low fee.

Ahead of the IPL auction this year, Sunrisers Hyderabad had retained David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and bought Dhawan via the right-to-match card in the auction. Dhawan was bought for INR 5.2 crore, which is much less than what his counterparts in Virat Kohli (INR 17 crore), Rohit Sharma (INR 15 crore) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (INR 15 crore).

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Dhawan has ‘expressed his desire to leave the franchise’. It further says that Dhawan had an argument with Sunrisers’ coach Tom Moody regarding not being retained as the No. 1 or 2 player in the franchise.

“That’s right. If we get a couple of good players as a trade-off, we’re open to it,” a Sunrisers official was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror. Apart from Indians, Sunrisers’ are reportedly also in talks with Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils for a win-win deal.

In which was the first deal of the trade window this year, Mumbai Indians have acquired the services of Quinton de Kock from Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Apart from financial reasons, performance doesn’t seem to be a reason to create a rift between Dhawan and Sunrisers. In the last two seasons, he has scored 976 runs in 30 matches at an average of 36.53, including eight half-centuries.

If the deal with Mumbai sees the daylight, Dhawan will represent the franchise for the second time. Having made his IPL debut in 2008 for Delhi Daredevils, Dhawan represented the Indians in 2009 and 2010, scoring 231 runs in 15 matches at a paltry average of 16.15.

Overall in the IPL, Dhawan has played 143 matches, scoring 4,058 runs at an average of 33.26 and a strike rate of 123.53.

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