Sunrisers Hyderabad are set to trade fast bowler Harshal Patel to Gujarat Titans in a ₹4 crore all-cash deal ahead of the IPL 2027 season. The deal is expected to be completed before the retention deadline on November 17, with the BCCI to formally ratify the paperwork and ₹4 crore to be deducted from Gujarat’s auction purse ahead of the mini-auction in Goa on December 16.
The price is exactly half the ₹8 crore Hyderabad paid for Harshal at the 2025 mega auction, and it finally lands Gujarat a bowler they have twice chased. The Titans bid ₹10.5 crore for him at the 2024 auction before Punjab Kings secured him for ₹11.75 crore, and bid again at the 2025 mega auction before Hyderabad won him at ₹8 crore.
For Harshal, the move is a homecoming. The 35-year-old was born in Ahmedabad and represented Gujarat at age-group level before moving to Haryana in domestic cricket, and Gujarat will become the fifth IPL franchise of a career that began in 2012 after stints with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. He turns 36 later this month.
Hyderabad’s decision follows a sharp fall in his fortunes with the franchise. In his first season in 2025 he justified his ₹8 crore fee with 16 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of 9.80. But IPL 2026 told a different story: five matches, no wickets, 148 runs from 13.4 overs at 10.82, and he was eventually benched for uncapped pacers Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, missing the Eliminator against Rajasthan Royals.
Hyderabad have been the busiest franchise in this trade window as they rebuild a bowling attack that let them down despite a third-place finish in IPL 2026, when they won nine of 14 league matches before losing the Eliminator. They have already signed T Natarajan from Delhi Capitals for ₹5 crore, and a four-player exchange with Chennai Super Kings brought in Khaleel Ahmed and Nathan Ellis for Liam Livingstone and Jack Edwards. With those arrivals, Harshal became surplus, and taking pure cash gives Hyderabad clean flexibility heading into the mini-auction.
Gujarat, meanwhile, get a proven match-winner for their death overs. Harshal is a two-time Purple Cap winner, topping the wicket charts with 32 scalps for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2021 and 24 for Punjab Kings in 2024, and he carries 151 IPL wickets from 124 matches at a strike rate of 16.6. He joins a pace attack featuring Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Jason Holder, and his variations and wide yorkers suit the large boundaries at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The franchises had first discussed a swap involving Tom Banton, but Hyderabad opted for cash instead.
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