Hardik Pandya's first reaction after joining Punjab Kings is an absolute banger (Instagram/hardikpandya93)

Hardik Pandya is a megastar and although he is renowned for his all-round abilities, another factor that has lately been associated with him is aura farming. Reels on social media highlighting this aspect of Pandya's character is common and the cricketer has arguably taken it a notch higher with his first reaction after joining Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Wednesday.

Pandya was traded to Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians (MI) have acquired Arshdeep Singh in return as part of a blockbuster swap. The trade was announced earlier in the day and hours later Pandya dropped a post on Instagram announcing his arrival, which on expected lines became an instant hit among the fans.

Pandya, who was the captain at MI, ensured that his arrival leads to no chatter or negativity among fans regarding the position at the new franchise where the position is held by Shreyas Iyer. Taking to social media, the 33-year-old shared a photo of him in the PBKS jersey and captioned it: "My Captain. Shreyas. My Coach. Ricky. My team. All of Punjab. I am standing behind you."

View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Hardik Pandya (@hardikpandya93)

• How Hardik Pandya can steer Punjab Kings to their maiden IPL title
• Hardik Pandya's paycheck raised with Punjab Kings switch - A look at his stunning IPL salary rise th...
• IPL 2027: Hardik Pandya-Arshdeep Singh blockbuster trade between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings off...

Punjab will be the third franchise Pandya will be playing for in the IPL. He made his debut in the tournament with Mumbai Indians in 2015 and had joined Gujarat Titans (GT) in 2022. He returned to Mumbai for a second stint in 2024, also replacing Rohit Sharma as the team captain.

Pandya has won five IPL titles, four with MI and one with GT as captain. Punjab, who are yet to win their first title since the inception of the tournament, will hope Pandya's arrival will change their fortunes.