Discarded Indian batter Hanuma Vihari believes Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Zaheer Khan would be keen to bring Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya to the franchise for the forthcoming IPL 2027 season.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Vihari said the Chennai-based franchise has been busy making too many changes to its coaching staff and reckoned it would be good for CSK to have Pandya in the setup.
“CSK have completely changed their coaching staff. They are making changes. The interesting thing is about the trade now. There have been reports that say Hardik Pandya to CSK is certain, also looking at the equation with MS Dhoni. Unless things go really bad, I feel he will come to CSK. It will be good for them if it happens. I think Zaheer would be keen to bring Hardik,” Vihari said on his YouTube channel.
On the other hand, former Indian off-spinner and commentator Ravi Ashwin predicted the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals to pick the star all-rounder by trading some of their star players to the Mumbai Indians (MI)
“KKR have great potential because Hardik can also become the captain there. They could offer Varun Chakaravarthy for him. But as long as Abhishek Nayar is there, I don’t think Varun will move from KKR. Harshit Rana and Rinku Singh could be other options. With RR, it could be Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sam Curran, or Brijesh Sharma or Tushar Deshpande. It could also be Jaiswal with Yash Raj or Bishnoi,” Ravi Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Hardik’s potential exit from MI has been a major talking point following the conclusion of the IPL 2026 season. Reportedly, Pandya communicated his desire to leave the franchise ahead of the IPL 2027 retention deadline.
