IPL 2026: Why is Hardik Pandya not playing MI vs LSG Match 47?

Published - 04 May 2026, 19:24 IST | Updated - 04 May 2026, 19:29 IST

Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) challenge on May 4 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Both MI and LSG are struggling badly in IPL 2026, and would want to come back to winning way with an impressive outing in this outing.

To everyone's surprise, it was Suryakumar Yadav who came out as MI's captain instead of Hardik Pandya. After winning the toss, the MI captain opted to bowl first in the crucial encounter at the Wankhede. He claimed that the weather is humid and the pitch will get better as the game progresses. Rishabh Pant said that even he would have liked to chase on this wicket.

In a big news, Hardik Pandya will miss this encounter after Suryakumar stated that he is unwell. Trent Boult was dropped from the playing XI, whereas Corbin Bosch makes his return to the side. Rohit Sharma will play this game as an impact sub.

For LSG, Mukul Choudhary was replaced by Akshat Raghuvanshi, whereas Aussie wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis will play his first match in IPL 2026.

We will look to bowl first. (Any particular reason?) Nothing, it looks good. It's a little humid also tonight. There's no wind. In the second innings, we saw what happened here in the last 2-3 games. So it became a little better. So just want to take advantage and give it to the bowlers. He's (Hardik) not well tonight, so just going into his shoes. But yeah, the rest, everything is fine. There's definitely, Cobin Bosch comes in for Trent Boult and also our very own Rohit Sharma is back. You can't run away from the fact, to be very honest, Mumbai Indians is not known to be in such positions. But at the end of the day, it's just a game, part of the game, you have to put your chin up, play the game for why you love it, and put your hands up. Have that pride and enjoy the game. (Clearly no margin for errors anymore, right?) Can't say it can make us dangerous, but definitely we can try and put our best foot forward. We have five games left. Try and win as many as possible.

We would have done the same. It is a good wicket to bat on and you can chase any target. Lot of reflection. It has been a tough season for us, no running away from that. Everyone knows how passionate he (Sanjeev Goenka) is about the game and his team, hopefully we can do it for the owner and our fans. Records help but when you are clearing your mindset everything comes together. Inglis comes in, Mukul goes out and Raghuwanshi comes in, bowling we will decide later.

Ryan Rickelton (w), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar, Raghu Sharma

Impact Players: Rohit Sharma, Robin Minz, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Rawat

Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Himmat Singh, Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav

Impact Players: Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mayank Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Singh Rathi