Amidst poor form in the ongoing IPL 2026 season, Mumbai Indians (MI) have made multiple impactful moves. They have replaced several players in the playing combination against the Lucknow Super Giants for tonight’s match.
Hardik Pandya, the MI captain, has been dropped from the team. In place of Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav came to the toss and informed about the replacements they had made to face the Lucknow Super Giants.
Why is Hardik Pandya not playing tonight? That has been the main question as soon as MI’s XI was released and Yadav entered the ground for the toss. Yadav informed that Hardik Pandya is not fit to play tonight’s match.
Why is Hardik Pandya not playing in the LSG vs MI IPL 2026 match?
“He (Hardik) is not feeling well tonight, so put yourself in his shoes. Corbin replaces Boult, Rohit is back.”. You can run away from the fact that MI is not known for this position, put your hands up and play your best game. I can’t say that will make us dangerous, we have five games left and we will try to win them,” said Mumbai Indians stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav.
Meanwhile, MI won the toss and opted to bowl first against the Lucknow Super Giants.
“We will look to bowl first. (Any particular reason?) Nothing, it looks good. It is also a bit humid tonight. There is no wind. In the second innings, we saw what happened here in the last 2-3 games. So it got a little bit better. So I just want to take advantage and give it to the bowlers,” Yadav explained.
Mumbai Indians issue official statement on Hardik Pandya’s absence from match against LSG in Mumbai
Later, Mumbai Indians confirmed that Hardik Pandya is out of tonight’s match due to a back spasm. On a previous occasion, this season, Pandya missed another match due to illness. Also on that occasion Suryakumar Yadav had to act as interim captain of the team.
After missing several matches due to injury, Rohit Sharma finally returned to the playing combination. He remains in the list of impact players and is expected to take the wicket in the second innings as Mumbai Indians chase a total set by the visiting team, Lucknow Super Giants, at the Wankhede Stadium. Ryan Rickelton is also in the playing XI, so the opening pair of Rohit and Ryan are expected to return to action for the former champions.
MI vs LSG IPL 2026 Playing XI:
Lucknow Supergiants (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Himmat Singh, Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav.
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