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Delhi Capitals (DC) were reportedly in the race to secure the services of Hardik Pandya ahead of the IPL 2027 season, but the deal is likely to collapse as the Mumbai Indians (MI) have no desire to sign Prithvi Shaw as the replacement for Hardik Pandya.
Hardik Pandya is set to leave the Mumbai Indians after another subpar season with the team as their captain. Multiple franchises, including the Delhi Capitals, were reportedly in the race to take the pace-bowling all-rounder on board. But the rumoured deal is likely to collapse.
A potential swap deal between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2027
A deal in the Indian Premier League can take place either through an all-cash deal or through a swap deal. Another option is a swap plus cash deal, where a franchise offers one or multiple players from their existing squad with some cash as well.
Despite poor outings both with bat and ball in the previous season, Hardik Pandya remains one of the best pace-bowling all-rounders across the globe. Therefore, MI will not allow the star to leave without a lucrative deal.
As an all-cash deal could be too expensive for the Delhi Capitals, they might have initiated a possible swap-plus-cash deal, according to several reports circulating across social media platforms. If the rumours are to be believed, then the Delhi-based franchise might have offered Prithvi Shaw and their skipper Axar Patel to the Mumbai Indians.
A potential swap deal for Hardik Pandya to Delhi Capitals is likely to collapse
Rohit Juglan, a RevSportz journalist, raises doubts over these reports, which claimed that DC were ready to offer Axar and Prithvi to acquire Pandya’s services.
In a recent YouTube video, the journalist clearly mentioned that the Mumbai Indians have no interest in Prithvi Shaw, and there is no reason for Delhi to trade out Axar Patel. Ahead of the IPL 2027 season, the Capitals traded out one of their most prolific spinners, Kuldeep Yadav, to Lucknow Super Giants to bring Rishabh Pant in.
As Kuldeep is not with the team, Axar Patel remains the only proven and experienced spinner in the team. So Delhi Capitals have no valid reasons to break ties with Axar Patel. However, Mumbai Indians have enough reasons to look for a quality spinner.
If Axar Patel is automatically eliminated from the deal, then according to the speculations, only Prithvi Shaw remains in the equation. If Rohit Juglan’s reports are to be believed, then MI are not interested at all in Prithvi Shaw.
'Mumbai Indians have no interest in Prithvi Shaw'
In that case, where Mumbai Indians are not interested in Prithvi Shaw and Delhi Capitals are not interested in leaving Axar Patel, the only all-cash deal is the available option, which currently looks far from reality.
“There's a conversation going on again between Hardik Pandya and Delhi. Now the first thing, listen carefully, Prithvi Shaw is not needed by Mumbai. Not needed at all. For some time, they might take Axar Patel because they need a spinner. But now tell me, why would Delhi let Axar Patel go... But Prithvi Shaw, I mean, Mumbai has no interest. To be really honest,” the journalist claimed on his YouTube video.
“You’ll clearly understand who Hardik spoke to in Delhi again, that they are also top-tier people. So Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw are completely null and void. You can still keep Axar Patel as a stand-in, but Hardik Pandya and Delhi cannot be called null and void at this time; I’m telling you this directly,” he added.
