IPL 2026: Why is Mukul Choudhary not playing MI vs LSG Match 47?

Published - 04 May 2026, 20:35 IST | Updated - 04 May 2026, 20:35 IST

The Mumbai Indians (MI) take on on the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 4 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The home team won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Suryakumar Yadav, stand-in skipper for the Mumbai Indians, won the toss and chose to field, on a wicket with a tinge of moisture due to the humidity. He replaced Hardik Pandya, who is out with back spasm. Rishabh Pant, skipper of the Lucknow Super Giants, also stated that he would have liked to field first.

Hardik Pandya not playing the game for the Mumbai Indians due to back spasms was the biggest talking point. Another major story was Rohit Sharma making his return in blue and gold after a layoff due to a calf injury. Deepak Chahar, Raj Bawa and Corbin Bosch come into the side for Krish Bhagat, Robin Minz and Trent Boult.

For LSG, Mukul Choudhary was replaced by Akshat Raghuvanshi. While it has yet to be confirmed whether Mukul has been dropped or has picked an injury, Australian keeper-bat Josh Inglis makes his debut for the Super Giants.

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 Pan t(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