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Harshal Patel Likely To Move To GT From SRH Via Trade Deal Ahead Of IPL 2027 Retention Deadline

Indians Praful Hinge: India fast bowler Harshal Patel is likely to move to Gujarat Titans (GT) from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) through a trade deal ahead of the 2027 IPL retention deadline on November 17. According to a report by Cricinfo on Saturday, the two franchises have settled on a cash-only deal worth Rs 4 crore, with the amount to be taken off GTs auction purse. That amount is only half of the Rs 8 crore SRH spent on him at the 2025 IPL mega auction. For GT, the interest is hardly sudden. They chased him in 2024 and dropped out at Rs 10.5 crore, with Punjab Kings finally securing him for Rs 11.75 crore. GT returned to the bidding for Patel in the 2025 auction as well, but stepped aside when the price reached Rs 6.5 crore. The move would also bring Patel back to the state where his roots lie. The right-arm pacer hails from Ahmedabad and moved back to represent Gujarat in domestic cricket from the 2025/26 season. At GT, who won the IPL in 2022, Patel will join Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Jason Holder and Ashok Sharma in the seam-bowling department. In IPL 2025, Patel picked up 16 wickets in 13 games, but in the last season he played just five times and did not take a wicket, while conceding 10.82 an over. The team leaned on uncapped Indians Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain instead to lead their fast-bowling charge. Patel, who played 25 T20Is for India and picked 29 scalps, has two IPL Purple Caps against his name - from 2021 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where he picked 32 wickets, and 2024 with Punjab Kings (PBKS), where he took 24 wickets. GT would be his fifth franchise after being with RCB, SRH, PBKS and Delhi Capitals (DC) since his IPL debut in 2012. In IPL, Harshal has played 124 matches and picked 151 wickets, with an average of 24.68, economy rate of 8.92 and best individual figures of 5-27. Previously, SRH, the IPL 2016 winners, brought in left-arm pacer T Natarajan from DC and then got Khaleel Ahmed and Nathan Ellis from Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a four-player exchange. Also Read: Special Cricket Stories Article Source: IANS