Hardik Pandya IPL Trade: Punjab Kings lead race to bag marquee all-rounder in swap deal, says report

Hardik Pandya IPL trade continues to make headlines. With the IPL retention deadline approaching, Mumbai Indians (MI) are actively working on a potential swap deal for their franchise captain. Despite several teams and their marquee players rumoured to be part of this in the lead-up to the mini-auction in mid-December this year, Punjab Kings (PBKS) currently lead the race to bag Pandya’s services. The latest report suggests PBKS have offered its premium pacer Arshdeep Singh and keeper-batter Vishnu Vinod in exchange for Pandya ahead of the next season, which is also reportedly in the works.

"The Ricky Ponting-coached franchise has advanced considerably in its negotiations with Mumbai Indians, with India pacer Arshdeep Singh and wicketkeeper-batter Vishnu Vinod likely to move in the opposite direction," a Sportstar report claims.

The two teams are yet to comment on this rumoured trade ahead of IPL 2027.

Earlier reports also claimed that former champions, including Rajasthan Royals (RR), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), were interested in acquiring Pandya’s services before the IPL retention deadline, which the BCCI pushed back by two days in the latest development. All 10 teams need to submit their retention and release lists by November 17.

Failed Swap Negotiations

While MI was interested in Harshit Rana and Angkrish Raghuvanshi in exchange for Pandya, KKR were unwilling to part ways with the Indian duo. In Rajasthan Royals’ case, Mumbai Indians were interested in Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravi Bishnoi, with the inaugural champions deciding against advancing talks.

When Chennai and Mumbai sat across a table discussing Pandya’s IPL trade, Mumbai showed keen interest in CSK’s rookie opener Ayush Mhatre, with CSK firmly refusing the offer.

Besides Punjab, Kolkata were the only franchise reported to have discussed Pandya’s trade in detail.

Injury Status & Fitness Update

Meanwhile, Pandya has been away from competitive cricket since IPL 2026. The right-handed all-rounder was earlier picked for India-A One-Day matches against Australia-A in September; however, an untimely recurrence of a right shin/calf stress injury ruled him out of any action since.

Not picked in India’s white-ball squads for the ongoing New Zealand series, Pandya is currently training and recovering at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. Latest reports claim that Pandya should regain full fitness in time for IPL 2027.