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A picture of Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya at a restaurant with Dinesh Karthik and RCB head coach Andy Flower has gone viral on social media. The picture comes days after RCB sealed back to back IPL titles, prompting netizens to think whether Hardik and DK, once India teammates, were discussing a trade. As per reports, Pandya is on his way out of MI after three difficult seasons.

A picture of Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya at a restaurant with Dinesh Karthik and RCB head coach Andy Flower has gone viral on social media. The picture comes days after RCB sealed back to back IPL titles, prompting netizens to think whether Hardik and DK, once India teammates, were discussing a trade. As per reports, Pandya is on his way out of MI after three difficult seasons.

So is Hardik joining RCB?

There is no evidence that the meeting, purportedly in Ahmedabad, was related to an IPL trade, transfer, or contract negotiations. RCB played the IPL final on May 31 in Ahmedabad and were in the city on June 1 for celebrations before disbursing. For Hardik, Ahmedabad is his home bas. However, neither Pandya, RCB, nor Mumbai Indians have issued any statement linking the dinner to player movement.

In fact, the image appears to be AI generated with several netizens already pointing out why. For starters, Hardik's hairstyle has a marked difference from the last time he featured for Mumbai Indians. Also, Hardik's girlfriend Mahieka Sharma had posted pictures from their getaway in France on the day his supposed meeting with Dinesh Karthik. Hardik had departed from Mumbai, after this team's final IPL 2026 game on May 24.