Mitchell Santner claims receiving only half payment for injury-shortened IPL stint

KARACHI: New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner has accused Mumbai Indians (MI) of only issuing half of his payment for his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 stint with the five-time champions, which was hindered by shoulder injuries.

Santner, who has represented New Zealand in 138 T20Is, was roped in by MI at the IPL mega auction for INR 20 million in 2025 and was retained by the franchise for this year's edition.

The 34-year-old, however, could represent them in only four matches in the recently concluded edition of the cash-rich league, during which he picked up five wickets and mustered 26 runs before getting ruled out of the remainder of the tournament due to a second shoulder injury.

After picking up a left shoulder injury, the spin-bowling all-rounder was expected to be on the sidelines for almost eight weeks, but recovered earlier than expected and was subsequently named in New Zealand's three-match Test series against England, scheduled to commence on Thursday.

As a result, Santner was accused of faking injury to leave the IPL 2026, which the all-rounder swiftly denied while featuring in the Grade Cricketer Podcast and instead revealed that he was issued only half of his salary despite putting his body on the line.

"Well, they gave me half my cash, so that actually hurt a little bit," Satner said.

"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.

"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."

It is pertinent to mention that the IPL rules mandate the franchises to pay the players the amount they were signed up for at the auction if they get injured during the tournament.