“It will be very harsh on Ruturaj Gaikwad”

Former cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath made a huge statement on Indian superstar Hardik Pandya’s trade deal ahead of IPL 2027. Several reports have linked the star all-rounder to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

However, it is being said that Hardik would move to any franchise only if he was offered captaincy. That said, Badrinath reckoned that it would be unfair on current CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad if Hardik came in and took away the leadership. He reckoned that the current skipper should be given at least another year.

“If Hardik comes, you will take the captaincy from Gaikwad and give it to Hardik? I will not agree with this. It will be very harsh on [Ruturaj] Gaikwad. They gave him captaincy in 2025, but he got injured and did not play the majority of the season, and MS Dhoni led in that season. 2026 was the season where he fully led as captain. Yes, he did not do as great, I agree. He did lead in 2024 too, but I feel he should get one more season as captain. I think CSK will also do that,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.

CSK have failed to make the playoffs since 2024. While Gaikwad played only five games in 2025, he returned as captain last season, where they finished eighth on the table. Badrinath added that with one more year left for the mega auction, the five-time champions could give Gaikwad one more season as captain.

“There is one more year in this cycle before the mega auction so probably CSK will give him one more year. Gaikwad the batter is someone I really like and I have said it before too. We don’t know who the new coach also will be. So we have to wait and see.”

Gaikwad’s form with the bat was a bit of a concern last season, though. He scored 337 runs from 14 games at an average of 28.08 and a strike rate of 123.44 with just two half-centuries. Overall, he has played 85 games for the franchise, scoring 2839 runs at an average of 38.36 and a strike rate of 135.64 with two hundreds and 22 fifties.

S Badrinath picks former champions as another franchise Hardik Pandya could go to

While rumours and reports have it that Hardik Pandya is likely to move to either Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) or CSK, Subramaniam Badrinath picked IPL’s inaugural champions, Rajasthan Royals (RR), as another option for Hardik.

He took a dig at RR skipper Riyan Parag, stating his captaincy was not as great and impactful.

“Rajasthan could also be an option, as Riyan Parag did not have much impact as captain. Tell me what he did as captain? Is he MS Dhoni or Rohit Sharma? Is his captaincy of that level? Records are in front of you. I have nothing against any player personally,” Badrinath said.

Riyan Parag has led RR in 22 games so far with 10 wins, 12 defeats and a win percentage of 45.45. That said, they also finished fourth last season and made it to the playoffs, eventually losing to the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the second qualifier.