Mitchell Santner says he received half of IPL fee after injury-hit Mumbai Indians stint

ISLAMABAD: New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner has said he was paid only 50% of his fee for his 2026 Indian Premier League campaign with Mumbai Indians, which ended early because of shoulder injuries.

Santner, 34, was bought by Mumbai Indians for INR20 million at the 2025 IPL mega auction and was retained for this year’s tournament. He featured in four matches in the recently concluded season, taking five wickets and scoring 26 runs before being ruled out of the remainder of the competition after suffering a second shoulder injury.

Santner first sustained an injury to his left shoulder and was expected to be out for about eight weeks. He recovered sooner than anticipated and was later included in New Zealand’s squad for a three-match Test series against England, scheduled to begin on Thursday.

That development led to accusations that he had feigned injury in order to leave the IPL, an allegation Santner rejected while speaking on the Grade Cricketer Podcast. Referring to his payment, he said "Well, they gave me half my cash, so that actually hurt a little bit," Santner said.

He also described the sequence of events during his short stint with Mumbai Indians, saying

I got there, missed the first game, birth of my second child, got there straight off the plane, played Delhi, did [injured] my right shoulder, out for kind of week.

Santner added, "I came back a couple of games later, did [injured] my left and went home. So I did [injured] two shoulders in the space of kind of two weeks. So I thought I was putting my body on the line for them, but obviously not."

IPL regulations require franchises to pay players the full amount agreed at the auction if they are injured during the tournament.