Shardul Thakur to Mumbai Indians for IPL 2026? R Ashwin drops massive trade hint ahead of Saturday's deadline

While the talk of the town is Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson’s trade in the Indian Premier League (IPL) retention window, a new transfer could be on the list. In a shocking revelation by former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur could be on his way to the Mumbai Indians from Lucknow Super Giants. It is worth noting that the trade window for IPL 2026 will close on Saturday (Nov 15) with Jadeja-Samson already looking like a done deal.

Shardul to Mumbai Indians?

“I don’t see any releases happening from Mumbai, they won’t release anyone. Their biggest concern would be finding a replacement for Deepak Chahar, who’s a bit injury-prone. They’ve secured Shardul Thakur through a trade from LSG. That has happened, they will probably look for a spinner and will get one too,” said Ashwin in a now-deleted portion of a video on his YouTube Channel ‘Ash ki Baat’.

While the clip has now been deleted, Ashwin remains a keen source for the cricket fraternity, having played for multiple franchises during his career. His assurance on the news could also be underlined by the fact that a prominent cricket website, Cricbuzz, also reported the trade rumour. According to Cricbuzz, Shardul could be on his way to Mumbai, while Arjun Tendulkar could be part of another deal that will see him play for LSG.

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Thakur, currently leading the Mumbai team in Rajni Trophy, was picked up by LSG as a replacement player for his base price of Rs 2 crore before the start of the last season, after going unsold in the mega IPL auction in Jeddah last year. He featured in 10 games for LSG with modest batting returns - scoring 18 runs - but significantly enough, he managed to claim 13 wickets.

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Tendulkar has been part of the Mumbai Indians setup for a couple of seasons, having been picked at his base price of INR 20 lakh in both the auctions he had enrolled in.

At the time of writing, neither deal was confirmed by any party, but with the deadline soon approaching, it will be interesting to see whether either trade goes over the line.

For now, the trade involving Jadeja and Samson looks all but over the line and could be announced as early as Friday.