Rohit Sharma injured his hamstring earlier in the IPL 2026. Since then, he has been out of action, while Mumbai Indians are yet to share a clear update about his possible return to the playing XI. In the last game against Gujarat Titans, captain Hardik Pandya shared that Rohit could miss the game against Chennai Super Kings and it proved true as the former captain was nowhere to be seen on the matchday.
Earlier, reports claimed that Rohit is on the verge of full recovery and the team management will decide on his fitness on the match day. On the D-day, Rohit was not given the green signal and with that, for the second time in his career, Rohit will miss a clash against Chennai since he joined Mumbai.
The hosts, in the meantime, is expected to play Will Jacks in Rohitโs absence. They tried Ryan Rickelton at the top of the order, before bringing in Danish Malewar, but they werenโt entirely convinced. As things stand, both Malewar and Jacks are listed in the Impact Players category, but since MI have listed only three overseas players in their XI, Jacks is very likely to feature in the XI, especially given his charismatic season for England in the T20 World Cup 2026.ย
Rohit, meanwhile, is expected to return to the scheme of things in MIโs upcoming clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 29. Since he was close to returning tonight, it is expected that the veteran cricketer will regain full fitness by the next game, which is still six days away.ย
MI opt to bowl
Mumbai have won the toss and elected to bowl first in the clash against Chennai. Ruturaj Gaikwad donโt mind that, though, as he spoke on the importance of putting up a show regardless.
โWe would have bowled first as well, but it was a 50-50 call. It looks a good wicket and coming here at Wankhede Stadium, you have to bat well irrespective of whether youโre batting first or bowling first. So it is just about putting up a great show even if youโre batting first,โ Gaikwad said after the toss.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock (wk), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Tilak Varma, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Krish Bhagat, AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sarfaraz Khan, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary
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