IPL 2026: Why is Rohit Sharma not playing GT vs MI Match 30?

Published - 20 Apr 2026, 19:05 IST | Updated - 20 Apr 2026, 19:26 IST

Gujarat Titans (GT) are bowling first at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, for Match No. 30 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Monday, April 20. Star batter Rohit Sharma, who plays for MI, is unfortunately not a part of the lineup announced by the five-time champions for this game.

GT skipper Shubman Gill flipped the coin, and it landed in his favour, following which he informed his decision to bowl first at the balanced Motera deck. He expressed that the team wishes to chase the target here, as the pitch is expected to get better to bat in the latter half of the encounter. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai skipper, also said that he would have loved to bowl first had he won the toss.

The reason behind Rohit Sharma's absence for this game is pretty clear, as the star cricketer is yet to recover from the injury that got him retired hurt during the game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru more than a week ago. As a result, MI has brought in Vidarbha prodigy Danish Malewar to replace the seasoned campaigner. Malewar is making his IPL debut as well alongside Krish Bhagat, who recently joined the squad as a replacement for injured Atharva Ankolekar. Bhagat will play in place of Deepak Chahar.

It looks like a decent wicket, honestly. There was a bit of dew in the last match. So just in case there is today, I think it would make more sense. Always good to have a target on the board and then try to chase it down. I think the way we have been bowling up front has been a huge positive for us, even in the last match and the game before that. So hopefully we continue with our bowling rhythm up front and then in the middle overs, Rashid Khan has been really good for us. So hopefully we all continue in the same manner.

Always good to have some runs on the belt and in a tournament like IPL, a long tournament, if you start well, you can really, really have a good season. And that’s what I will strive for. Always a good challenge to play against them. I think they are a solid team and hopefully it’s going to be a good match. We’re going with the same team.

We would have fielded as well. It’s obviously the last game for us as a group. We had to regroup and speak about what Mumbai Indians stands for and what kind of game we want to play. And we had a good amount of chats. People are looking forward to the game. (You have bounced back from such situations before?) Yeah, most often than not. So this time we want to make sure that we start the winning form and make sure that we play some good cricket and tick boxes whenever we are supposed to tick. And yeah, just backing each other, sticking by each other.

There will be tough times, but yeah, just stand with each other and go out and play some good cricket. (Areas of improvement) I think we need to play overall better cricket, I can’t pinpoint one factor. As I’ve said earlier, we win together, we lose together. So as a group, we need to get better. It's a fresh day. Sun has risen again and just a positive way. A couple of debuts for us. Danish (Malewar) makes his Mumbai Indians debut. And Krish (Bhagat) as well, who was part of the support bowlers, really impressed us. He got into the team three days back and such is life that he’s playing today.

Shubman Gill (captain), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Ashok Sharma

Danish Malewar, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (captain), Tilak Varma, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Krish Bhagat, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar