Hardik Pandya could be at the centre of the Indian Premier League’s biggest trade story ahead of the 2027 season, with Mumbai Indians considering a significant overhaul after enduring its longest title drought in the competition.

While no trade has been officially confirmed, conversations around Hardik’s future had gathered momentum even before the conclusion of IPL 2026.

Chennai Super Kings has emerged as a possible next stop for the India all-rounder — and, given his profile, there would be no shortage of suitors if he does become available — while Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals have also been understood to be considering the Hardik option.

The speculation comes after three contrasting seasons for MI. After a disastrous 2024 campaign, the five-time champion recovered to reach the playoffs in 2025 before another underwhelming performance in 2026 prompted a comprehensive review within the franchise.

“Our post-season review is currently on and we are looking into all aspects. Contrary to reports, we are not engaged in conversations with regard to player trade. The same is only possible once the review is complete,” an MI spokesperson told The Hindu on Saturday. “A range of options and ideas are being evaluated, which require time… hence no decisions have been made.”

That review extends well beyond the captaincy. Sources close to the franchise indicate MI is evaluating its leadership group, coaching staff and overall cricket operations as it looks to rebuild a side that has failed to challenge consistently for the title in recent years.

Despite the growing buzz, Hardik’s exit is far from certain. His decision to part ways with MI’s talent management arm has fuelled speculation, but it is not being viewed as a complete break with the franchise.

Historically, MI has retained its core players for long periods and continues to be regarded as one of the strongest player-management ecosystems in Indian sport, making any move involving its captain a complex one.

The trade market, meanwhile, remains in its early stages, with most franchises still conducting post-season reviews before finalising their plans — meaning multiple scenarios will likely continue to circulate across the league in the coming weeks.

Whether Hardik leaves or not, one thing appears increasingly clear: Mumbai Indians is unlikely to head into IPL 2027 with the same core that has represented the franchise over the last three seasons.

And if the India all-rounder does switch teams, it could prove to be the defining move of this trade window.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has hailed the explosive batting of Mitchell Marsh after his match-winning century that helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeat defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by nine runs in a high-scoring IPL clash on Thursday night.

Marsh played a dominant knock at the top of the order, smashing 111 off 56 deliveries to power LSG to 209/3, setting up a strong total in the rain-shortened encounter. The right-handed batter was named Player of the Match for his superb innings.

Speaking on JioHotstar, Chopra highlighted Marsh’s consistency at the top and his ability to dominate pace attacks with clean hitting.

“Marsh is the only batter in this entire LSG setup who has batted at the same position throughout the tournament. Everybody else has been moved around,” JioStar expert Chopra said.

He further praised the Australian star’s power-hitting, noting his ability to take on fast bowlers and dominate both sides of the wicket.

“He’s got the strength. He’s a very different kind of opener. He’s tall and has long levers and, therefore, goes downtown. The moment you start hitting fast bowlers over their heads and into the stands, where do you actually bowl to him?” he added.

Chopra also pointed out Marsh’s impact against RCB pacer Josh Hazlewood, saying his form has been a key factor in recent matches.

“You can’t bowl short to him because he’s brilliant square of the wicket, and the way he took down Josh Hazlewood was phenomenal,” he said.

He added that RCB’s bowling struggles have coincided with consecutive defeats, underlining Marsh’s influence on the contest.

“It’s twice in two games now that Josh has leaked a lot of runs… RCB have also lost two on the bounce, so there is a correlation because if he goes for runs, then there are problems,” Chopra noted.

Lucknow defeated Bengaluru by nine runs at Ekana Stadium. The hosts posted 209/3 in 19 overs, powered by a brilliant century from Marsh and late contributions from Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant.

As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday (May 31), celebrations erupted across the country, including Hyderabad. However, the festivities in several parts of the city turned disorderly, with multiple videos circulating on social media showing instances of vandalism, traffic disruptions and violations of public safety norms.

Police were forced to intervene at a number of locations and reportedly resorted to mild lathi-charge in some areas to disperse unruly crowds and restore order.

The Secretariat Road stretch, which has increasingly become a major point for public celebrations following major sporting victories, witnessed large gatherings on Sunday night. Hundreds of fans assembled to celebrate RCB’s title triumph, but several were seen obstructing traffic and flouting traffic regulations. One video from the area showed a group of supporters striking police barricades, causing them to topple onto the road and disrupt the flow of vehicles. Others were seen moving around shirtless and creating a nuisance in the vicinity.

In another incident reported from KPHB, a group of people was seen throwing around waste baskets left behind by vendors after the weekly Sunday vegetable market. Videos showed individuals scattering objects onto the road while blocking traffic and engaging in disruptive behaviour.

Another video circulating online showed a man emerging through the sunroof of a moving car and setting off a rocket firecracker while holding the cracker box in his hand, raising concerns over public safety and reckless conduct during the celebrations.

Amid the celebrations, RCB urged supporters to mark the occasion responsibly. In a post on X after the victory, the franchise advised fans to celebrate with their families and avoid gathering in large crowds. “Best way to celebrate is with your loved ones. Relive the memories, and enjoy this special moment from the comfort of home,” the team said.

The appeal comes against the backdrop of the tragic event that followed RCB’s maiden IPL title win in 2025. During victory celebrations in Bengaluru, a crowd crush outside the stadium resulted in the deaths of 11 fans and left more than 50 others injured.

For the duration of IPL 2026, Kumar Sangakkara, who fulfilled the dual responsibility of head coach and Director of Cricket for Rajasthan Royals, had a ringside view of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s game. Having observed the 15-year-old make another giant leap after the promise of his debut campaign in 2025, the former Sri Lanka skipper said Sooryavanshi was “more than ready” for an India call-up.

The cherubic southpaw’s next assignment is a 50-over tri-series for India-A in Sri Lanka from June 9 to 21. Once that concludes, there is an irresistible case for the teenager to be handed a senior T20I call-up. India has two T20Is against Ireland in Belfast on June 26 and 28, followed by a five-match series versus England from July 1 to 11.

“Yeah, I mean, you never know if anyone’s ready until they play. But with everything Vaibhav has shown against some of the best bowlers in the world, I think he’s more than ready to take on any challenge you throw at him. And I’m sure that he’ll get that call-up very, very soon. He’s batted with a lot of maturity,” Sangakkara told reporters after RR’s defeat to Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.

Sooryavanshi’s second IPL season ended with a mind-boggling tally of 776 runs. On Friday (May 29, 2026), the Titans attack came up with a concerted short-ball ploy led by the pair of Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada, but the youngster showed substance along with style in an innings of 96 off 47 balls.

“It was a much tougher innings with wickets falling around him. He reads the game really well, and he’s got no fear,” Sangakkara noted.

Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bat against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 of Indian Premier League on Friday (May 29, 3036).

GT made one change and brought back R Sai Kishore, while RR are playing an unchanged XI.

Teams

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jogra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja.

Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj.

“Mentally stressed and completely exhausted” after what has been a disastrous IPL, Mumbai Indians’ under-fire captain Hardik Pandya is set to quit the franchise and had conveyed this to the team management mid-season, a top tournament source told PTI on Friday (May 28, 2026).

The 32-year-old Pandya, who took over the leadership in 2024 replacing Rohit Sharma, informed the Mumbai Indians management about leaving the franchise weeks before the team’s disastrous IPL campaign ended.

Once the play-off hopes were dashed with quite a few games still left, it is learnt that both Pandya and MI reached an understanding on mutually parting ways.

“Hardik was mentally stressed and completely exhausted. He had also sustained a back injury. In fact, once the play-off hopes were dashed, Hardik informed the decision-makers that he wouldn’t be staying back,” an IPL source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

“Please understand that Hardik is only 32. He returned to MI in 2024 when he was 30. He was booed in the first year and this season too things didn’t go according to plan,” the source added referring to the change of guard in which the hugely popular Rohit was replaced as captain.

MI Fans had repeatedly booed Pandya during the games in the past two seasons and the all-rounder, despite seeming visibly affected by the heckling, maintained that “it has been a difficult but entertaining journey”.

The IPL source said, his patience has finally run out.

“There is only so much that a young man can take. The last three years haven’t been easy for him. The MI dressing room that he had left in 2021 wasn’t the same when he returned in 2024. Not every senior player was on the same page.

“If results come despite divergent views, you still won’t feel frustrated. But when everyone pulls in different directions, after a point you don’t have the mental bandwidth to carry on. So, Hardik had decided mid-season that he wouldn’t be part of MI next season,” the source further said.

According to people privy to the developments, what hurt Pandya immensely was the fact that senior players, who demanded 100 per cent commitment when he played T20Is for India, were not exactly returning the favour when he was in-charge of the franchise.

It is, however, not clear whether Pandya is looking at a trade deal with another team or would prefer to enter the auction pool.

“One thing is for sure. He is done with MI. Closer to August, one might get some indication about what his next move will be.” For someone who feels mentally drained, Chennai Super Kings wouldn’t be a bad option in case of a trade.

MI’s next captain

Mumbai Indians will need to start with a clean slate ahead of the 2027 mega auction, but before that there is still another IPL edition to navigate.

It will be interesting to see whether MI opts for a short-term solution or focuses on the bigger picture.

For the short term, there is no better skipper than Rohit Sharma, their five-time IPL-winning captain and still the biggest name in that dressing room.

For transition, his protege Tilak Varma, who is also on the radar of the national selectors, could be appointed his deputy.

It is an open secret that the 2027 World Cup is Rohit’s final frontier and, therefore, the IPL could also be his final season in the franchise ecosystem.

But whether MI would be willing to take a step back remains the big question.

Otherwise, the best solution would be to make Tilak the new skipper and persist with him for at least three seasons while building a fresh squad around him.

Kapil Dev throws a quick glance at the bat and ball placed at the entrance of the Madras Management Association’s auditorium. They are a photo prop — for the members attending the launch of popular banker Shyam Srinivasan’s latest book, Better Never Stops, a part-memoir, part-practical leadership primer published by WYZR Books (Rs 495).

If not for the teeming autograph hunters and selfie seekers, Kapil might have been tempted to bowl a couple of yorkers or smash a few sixes.

The 67-year-old lanky cricketing legend has seen the highest of highs in the sport; the 1983 World Cup win being the peak. He is currently associated with another sport — golf — which he plays passionately.

Deep down, Kapil remains the boy who once loved hitting the grounds of Chandigarh with a bat and ball in hand.

“People like us… we know only thing: how to play. If we had it our way, we would be playing some kind of sport from childhood till death,” he says, “When we are born, our parents give us a bat and ball to play something, but once we turn six or seven, they take it back and replace it with a pencil to concentrate on education.”

A huge cheerleader for sporting activities, Kapil is peeved about India’s obsession with cricket. “I’m saying this despite being a cricketer myself and fully knowing the love and affection it fetched me,” he smiles, “As a nation, we give 99% to cricket. It’s unfair. Other sports should also get recognition…only then will the nation grow.”

The show goes on

Kapil is a content sportsman today, even as he speaks words of motivation at corporate events and sporting functions. When he is not travelling or playing golf, he enjoys watching movies.

“I grew up watching Amitabh Bachchan saab’s films and styling myself on his looks in the films,” recalls Kapil. Today, thanks to technology and the advent of OTT platforms, Kapil likes catching up on the dubbed versions of South Indian superhits too. “Baahubali was great, and I love watching Allu Arjun’s films too,” says Kapil, mimicking the trademark Pushpa beard-stroke swagger, “They make some people larger than life, but that’s how cinema works in this part of the world.”

Cricket, however, is never entirely out of his system — despite his own admission that he watches only “5% of the matches today”. Like most followers of IPL 2026, Kapil too is full of praise for young sensation, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. “At the moment, he is a special talent, without doubt. But we have to give him time. He is very young and does not know anything other than cricket. Once he gets to know more about life, things might be different.”

Blast from the past

Kapil can be credited for the obsession India has with cricket today. Leading India, the historic World Cup win in 1983 is considered the greatest triumph of the underdog that cricket has ever seen, heralding a young generation of Indian cricket players and enthusiasts. Apart from instilling self belief in the team, Kapil’s crucial batting knock when they were on the verge of elimination (175 against Zimbabwe) and iconic catch (to dismiss Viv Richards in the final) remains the highlight of his glittering career.

So, what was he telling himself when the chips were down? “It’s a story other people will tell better than me,” he says, “When you are in it, you don’t remember it as vividly as people watching it. It was my day, and I’m happy that I won the tournament for India.”

Is there a life lesson he has for people? “Never ever give up. The moment you give up, you are dead.”

New Chandigarh If Gujarat Titans relies on its core of consistent performers to win T20 matches, Rajasthan Royals’ hopes seem to ride primarily on the X-factor of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

It is perhaps a simplistic reading of the two franchises, but the neutral observer would certainly gravitate towards the latter simply because of the unadulterated thrill that Sooryavanshi’s stroke-making ability elicits.

When a query along these lines was put to Titans’ assistant coach Parthiv Patel on the eve of Qualifier 2, the former wicketkeeper-batter asserted that results vindicate the franchise’s approach.

“Every team has a different way of playing. We have been quite consistent about the way we go about our business. As long as we are getting results, we don’t have to think about whether we need an X-factor,” Parthiv said on Thursday.

“Other teams can think whatever they want to think. Even in the first half of the tournament, we were not doing great. But we still stuck to our process. We trust in our ability. If we execute our plans, we can win.”

Titans’ established template is facilitated by Sai Sudharsan’s voracious appetite for run-scoring at the top. He may not be as explosive as the young left-hander in the opposition, but Parthiv sees no need for the opener from Chennai to change tack.

“I don’t think there is any kind of temptation to tell Sai Sudharsan to go at a higher strike rate. If someone is striking at 300, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to,” said Parthiv.

In the IPL 2026 Qualifier 1 in Dharamshala on Tuesday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s plan of attack against Gujarat Titans was palpable at the outset. Shubman Gill & Co. appear at ease exhibiting a more traditional template of T20 cricket, but can get dragged out of their comfort zone when circumstances demand a breakneck tempo of scoring.

The RCB top-order attacked Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada — the pair has often bowled all six overs of the PowerPlay in tandem this season — in the quest to make Titans press the panic button. Skipper Rajat Patidar picked up the baton on the back of a blazing start as RCB amassed 254 for five and clinched a 92-run win.

Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Sooryavanshi needs no second invitation to attack up front. When Royals face Titans at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium in Qualifier 2 on Friday, therefore, the 15-year-old’s duel against the pair of Siraj and Rabada will possibly take centre-stage in shaping the narrative in what is expected to be a sultry evening. The wunderkind from Bihar is a generational talent of the kind not seen before in T20s, and finds himself just 20 shy of taking his campaign tally to 700 runs.

If, and it is a big if, GT can eliminate Sooryavanshi’s threat early, RR will have concerns. While Yashasvi Jaiswal (426) and Dhruv Jurel (508) have also done well, there has been a noticeable drop-off from the middle-order. Even on Wednesday, after Sooryavanshi’s 97 and Jurel’s 50, Royals failed to capitalise in the latter stages of its innings. The onus is on skipper Riyan Parag in this regard.

Titans have similar frailties in their middle-order, but Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler embrace the heavy-lifting at the top. If Jofra Archer can find a way past the front three, like he did in the Eliminator on Wednesday, Royals will be in prime position to deliver the knockout punch.

Rajasthan Royals (RR) prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi surpassed West Indies legend Chris Gayle for most sixes in a single Indian Premier League (IPL) edition and in a T20 tournament.

Sooryavanshi achieved this milestone during his side’s IPL eliminator match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), slamming a stormy 97 in just 29 balls, with five fours and 12 massive sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 334.48.

Sooryavanshi has smashed 65 sixes so far in the ongoing IPL season, outdoing Gayle’s tally of 59 sixes in the 2012 edition.

Sooryavanshi has also levelled with Gayle for most instances of hitting 10-plus sixes in an IPL innings, a total of four times. Three of these occasions have come this season, making him the first batter to hit 10-plus sixes in three IPL innings in a season.

The 15-year-old’s take down of cricket legends one by one continues as he also surpassed Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally of seven powerplay sixes during the IPL 2008 clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), with eight sixes in the powerplay at Mullanpur.

Sooryavanshi is the batter with the most runs coming in the powerplay during an IPL season, with 490 runs, overtaking Australian legend David Warner, who scored 467 runs for SRH in the 2016 edition.

This is also his fifth fifty-plus score in the power play in IPL, with only Warner (six such scores) ahead of him.

He has also joined Suresh Raina (87 against Punjab Kings in 2014) and Adam Gilchrist (74 against Delhi Daredevils in 2009) for fifty-plus scores made during powerplay in an IPL knockout/playoff match.

This is Sooryavanshi’s fifth fifty in less than 20 balls, with only Abhishek Sharma (six) above him.

Sooryavanshi establishes new IPL playoff records

The 15-year-old’s 16-ball half-century tied with Raina’s 16-ball fifty (against PBKS in 2014) for the joint-fastest fifty in an IPL knockout/playoff match.

Twelve sixes smashed by him are also the most in an innings by a batter in IPL knockouts/playoffs, outdoing Shubman Gill’s 10 sixes against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2023. Sooryavanshi has the most sixes in an IPL inning by an Indian as well.

Ninety-seven runs by Sooryavanshi is the second-highest individual score for RR in an IPL knockouts/Playoffs game, behind 106* runs by Jos Buttler against RCB in the qualifier 2 of IPL 2022.

A generational IPL season

In this season, Sooryavanshi has smashed 680 runs in 15 innings at an average of 45.33 and a strike rate of 242.85, including a century and four fifties, with a best score of 103. He has smashed 55 fours and 65 sixes in 280 balls faced. His balls per boundary shot ratio is 2.3, and balls per six ratio is 4.3.

This is the most runs an uncapped batter has scored in an IPL season, overtaking his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal’s tally of 625 runs in the 2023 season. Also, he is the youngest to complete 600 runs in an IPL season.

Before the left-handed sensation arrived to the scene, no other batter in T20 history had smashed 600+ runs in a T20 tournament while also striking at 200-plus.