Close friend of Rohit Sharma set to join Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2026 auction

Amid the talks of a Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja swap deal between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, it seems that Mumbai Indians (MI) has already finalized a deal with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of the IPL 2026 mini auction. 

During a YouTube conversation, former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin made a shocking claim about the transfer of Shardul Thakur from LSG to MI. Ashwin made the claim in a now-deleted portion of a video on his YouTube channel, ‘Ash ki Baat.’ According to his claim, the Mumbai Indians roped in Thakur in place of Deepak Chahar. And maybethe multi-time franchise can try to get in a spinner also. 

"I don’t see any releases happening from Mumbai; they won’t release anyone. Their biggest concern would be finding a replacement for Deepak Chahar, who’s a bit injury-prone. They’ve secured Shardul Thakur through a trade from LSG. That has happened; they will probably look for a spinner and will get one too," Ashwin said. 

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Shardul Thakur from MI to LSG ahead of IPL 2026

Last season, during the mega auction, Shardul Thakur went unsold surprisingly. Later, after begining of IPL 2025, LSG signed in Thakur for his base price of INR 2 crore in place of injured Mohsin Khan. The experinced pace bowling quickly made his mark by plucking six wickets in first two matches, including a four-wicket haul against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Though, he could not hold on the momentum and ended the season with 13 wickets from ten innings at an economy of 11.02. 

It is believed that LSG and MI can engage in a player trade deal between Thakur and Arjun Tendulkar through all-cash deals. Arjun has been with the Mumbai-based franchise since 2021 but barely got enough chance to perform. So far, he has played only five matches and taken three wickets and scored 13 runs. According to the guideline, all IPL franchises will have to announce their lists of retained and released players' names by November 15.