Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes Mumbai Indians might not miss Hardik Pandya much if they decide to trade him out ahead of the upcoming auction. According to the latest reports, Hardik Pandya and Punjab Kings’ Arshdeep Singh could be swapped. In addition, Punjab Kings will also trade out wicket-keeper batsman Vishnu Vinod to Mumbai Indians.
Under Pandya, Mumbai Indians have managed to qualify for the playoffs on a solitary occasion in the last three seasons. After the conclusion of IPL 2026, it has been reported on multiple occasions that Pandya could part ways with MI.
“The Punjab team has made up its mind to let Arshdeep Singh go. Then Arshdeep and Jasprit Bumrah playing for the Mumbai Indians, and either Deepak Chahar or Corbin Bosch with them, and then they have Mitchell Santner and Allah Ghazanfar in spin bowling,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“It’s a serious attack. Will they miss Hardik? Kill me for saying this, they won’t miss him as much. You know how much I like Hardik Pandya, but the truth is that they will manage,” he added.
The renowned commentator said MI would still have depth and quality in their squad even if they decide to release Hardik Pandya.
“If you see their batting, Rohit Sharma comes with either Ryan Rickelton or Quinton de Kock. Then you have Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Sherfane Rutherford to bat in the middle, and Naman Dhir. You have depth and quality in batting. You can now play Will Jacks easily,” he observed.
On the other hand, the former Delhi cricketer reckons releasing Arshdeep Singh will further weaken Punjab Kings’ bowling.
“You are losing Arshdeep Singh as part of this trade. Your bowling was already weak. You had several bowlers, but the quality was missing. Your bowling has been extremely ordinary. You scored runs, but conceded a lot of runs,” he said.
IPL 2027 auction will be held in Goa in mid-December.
