India’s star right-arm quick Mohammed Shami is highly likely to be traded to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) after reaching an agreement with Sunrise’s Hyderabad. With the deadline for the franchises to submit the final list of players released from their 2025 squads, ending by 3 pm Saturday, the two franchises have agreed in principle on the trade, pending Shami’s consent.
The 35-year-old is yet to regain his spot in the national side since his last appearance in the Champions Trophy final in March, and despite featuring in domestic tournaments for Bengal, he had expressed his disappointment after being overlooked for the home Test series against West Indies in October and the ongoing two-Test series against South Africa. He was not considered for the five-Test tour of England as well this summer, immediately after he had a poor IPL season.
In IPL 2025, Shami played only nine of SRH’s 14 matches and took six wickets at an average of 56.16 with an economy rate of 11.23. He was roped in by the Hyderabad-based franchise during the IPL mega auction ahead of the 18th season, for Rs 10 crore. Given his struggles with fitness, rhythm and speeds, the SRH think-tank was in a fix whether to retain or release him until the offer from LSG came this week.
Elsewhere, India all-rounder Shardul Thakur will represent Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2026, following a trade with Lucknow Super Giants.
According to a statement from IPL, the Mumbai based seam bowling all-rounder was picked up by the Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 2 crore as an injury replacement for the 18th edition of the league, wherein he featured in 10 games. The statement further revealed that Thakur has been traded to MI for his existing player fee of Rs 2 crore.
Thakur had gone unsold at the 2025 mega auction and was preparing for a stint with Essex in the County Championship before LSG signed him as a replacement for Mohsin Khan. He began strongly, taking six wickets in his first two games, but could not sustain that form. He finished the season with 13 wickets in 10 matches at an economy rate of 11.02.
For Thakur, the move represents a return to familiar ground, he was part of MI’s support bowling group between 2010 and 2012, and currently leads Mumbai in domestic cricket.
In another development, West Indian power-hitter Sherfane Rutherford is also poised to join MI for IPL 2026. Rutherford has been traded in from Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 2.6 crore, the same sum GT spent on him at the last auction.
Rutherford will now represent his fourth IPL franchise. He previously played for Delhi Capitals (2019), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2022) and GT (2025). He had earlier been part of MI’s squad in 2020 and KKR’s in 2024, though he did not feature in the XI in either season. For GT this year, he scored 291 runs in 13 games at an average of 32.22 and a strike rate of 157.29.
Arjun likely to be traded to LSG
According to espncricinfo, MI and LSG have also reached an agreement on a trade involving Arjun Tendulkar. The left-arm seamer, with MI since 2023, is expected to move to LSG in search of more regular playing time.
Tendulkar was bought by MI for Rs 30 lakh last season and has featured in five IPL matches, picking up three wickets at an economy rate of 9.36. He was first acquired by MI in the 2021 auction for Rs 20 lakh and made his IPL debut in 2023. On the domestic circuit, he debuted in T20s for Mumbai in 2021 before shifting to Goa ahead of the 2022–23 season, where he made his first-class and List A debuts.