Hardik Pandya-Arshdeep Singh swap great for MI, questionable for PBKS: Ex-IND batter

Which team really benefits from the Hardik Pandya-Arshdeep Singh swap? That question has been on the minds of fans and pundits ever since reports emerged that Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings were working on one of the biggest deals in recent IPL memory.

India Today has learned that the deal is close to completionand only official confirmation remains. Many have already written down the new playing XIs for both MI and PBKS once the deal is done to see which team gets the better end of the deal. Abhinav Mukund is now considering the matter and feels that MI will benefit more from the deal.

In an interview with JioStar, the former India batsman asks how Hardik will fit into the PBKS team and how his equation will play out under Shreyas Iyer.

“When you look back at the mega auction, they (Punjab Kings) decided to spend most of their money on three big players like Arshdeep, Shreyas (Iyer) and (Yuzvendra) Chahal. If you don’t believe in that core and want a better core to be retained, that’s where the all-round question comes in,” Mukund told ‘Jio’ Star.

“It’s a great deal for Mumbai but it’s also a questionable deal for the Punjab Kings because if Hardik comes to Punjab, will he only play as an all-rounder?” he asked.

“He would be playing under Shreyas Iyer. So there is also the question of team dynamics. Again, is he okay with that? Has Shreyas talked about it? All this is being done behind closed doors,” he added.

Mukund also feels that Hardik’s move will also create uncertainty over the future of Suryansh Shedge, the PBKS all-rounder in which she has invested heavily.

“I’m very curious to see how Suryansh will react. This is a guy who is now playing for India AND as an all-rounder, playing for India as an all-rounder and is seen as the next in line after maybe Nitish Reddy, Shivam Dube and then him.

“Obviously he has to think about whether he’d get as many opportunities if the trade happened,” he said.

for ME, the deal will allow them to create a new strong ball attack of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep if the transfer actually happens and you end Hardik’s experiment.

– The end