Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has proposed an interesting trade-off deal between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Badrinath reckons Mumbai Indians should trade their skipper Hardik Pandya to CSK in exchange for Shivam Dube and Ayush Mhatre.
The former CSK batter also backed the franchise to appoint Hardik Pandya as their skipper despite his mundane season with MI in IPL 2026. Pandya scored 206 runs in 10 matches at an average of 22.89 and a strike rate of 138.25. Furthermore, he could only pick four wickets in 10 games at a high economy rate of 11.42.
Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “If I am MI, I would trade Hardik for Shivam Dube and Ayush Mhatre from CSK. A core trio of Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Hardik Pandya will take the CSK brand to a different level. There is also no set rule that Samson has to be made the CSK captain. If Hardik demands captaincy, I would make him CSK’s captain because of his excellent relationship with MS Dhoni.”
“Hardik has at least three excellent seasons in him. He will lend CSK incredible balance to the point where they can build the team around him. It’ll also help Hardik if he goes to CSK over any other franchise, as CSK can enhance your image to a different level.”
Badrinath reckons MI would still be an outstanding team even without the services of Hardik Pandya.
“The way Hardik Pandya came to MI from GT and became captain is one of the main reasons why MI should trade Hardik Pandya. Rohit Sharma has played for 15 years and won you five titles and is the darling of Mumbai. Ever since Hardik replaced him as captain, something has not been right with MI. So once Hardik is removed from the picture, MI are still an extraordinary team,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).
The former batter believes one of Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah can take MI’s captaincy baton.
“Just offload Hardik Pandya and make one Tilak Varma, Jasprit Bumrah, or Suryakumar Yadav the captain. It’s not Hardik’s mistake, but his wanting captaincy has affected the dynamics of the team.”
MI would aim to come back strongly in the next season.
