Former Team India and Kolkata Knight Riders opener, Aakash Chopra, has made a bold remark on the highly speculated deal between the Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings for Hardik Pandya. According to Chopra, if Hardik leaves, Mumbai Indians will not miss the star pace-bowling all-rounder at all.

Aakash Chopra, in his latest opinion, mentioned that as long as Will Jacks, another all-rounder, is with the Mumbai Indians, the franchise will not find it difficult to fill the void in the playing combination.

Hardik Pandya joins Punjab Kings ahead of IPL 2027

As per the latest rumours, Punjab Kings are highly interested in getting Hardik ahead of the IPL 2027 season, in exchange for their star pacer Arshdeep Singh. However, nothing has been officially announced yet.

Speaking in a YouTube video, Aakash Chopra explained why Mumbai Indians will not face much difficulty playing without Hardik Pandya in the upcoming Indian Premier League season.

Aakash Chopra explains why Mumbai Indians will not miss Hardik Pandya

As the former cricketer observed, in the presence of Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton or Quinton de Kock, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, and Naman Dhir, the Mumbai Indians batting line-up looks good on paper. As the batting combination looks good, it will allow the team to use England National Cricket Team all-rounder Will Jacks in place of Hardik Pandya.

He said, "Will they miss Hardik? Kill me for saying this, they won't miss him as much. You know how much I like Hardik Pandya, but the truth is that they will manage. If you see their batting, Rohit Sharma comes with either Ryan Rickelton or Quinton de Kock."

"Then you have Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Sherfane Rutherford to bat in the middle, and Naman Dhir. You have depth and quality in batting. You can now play Will Jacks easily," Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Which players should be retained and released ahead of IPL 2027?

In a video posted by Star Sports, Aakash Chopra opined that the Mumbai-based franchise should retain Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Sherfane Rutherford, Quinton de Kock, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Shardul Thakur, Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar and Deepak Chahar for the upcoming IPL season in 2027, while he advised the franchise to release the experienced fast bowler Trent Boult, who took only two wickets in five matches at an average of 94 during the 2026 IPL season.

Five matches, two wickets, 11 and a half runs per over. That tells me that Trent Boult has to be released. 12.5 crore is a lot of money, and in exchange, you can get quite a few players, and many people won't even need to be released," said the former cricketer.

He further mentioned that if Hardik Pandya leaves the team, Mumbai must choose either Keshav Maharaj or Mitchell Santner going forward.

"I can let go of Keshav Maharaj as well because they wouldn't want both Santner and Keshav. But, again, let's see if Hardik goes; who comes in his place," Chopra added.