Mumbai Indians stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav was unavailable for the IPL 2026 clash against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on Thursday, May 14. Leading the side for the primary time, Jasprit Bumrah revealed that Suryakumar missed the sport resulting from personal reasons.
Meanwhile, regular captain Hardik Pandya remained sidelined with a back injury. Speaking on the toss, Bumrah said (via Cricbuzz):
“Surya will not be here for private reasons.”
For those unaware, Suryakumar Yadav and his wife Devisha recently welcomed a baby girl. Despite the large personal milestone, he had captained Mumbai Indians of their previous outing against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru. In his absence, Sherfane Rutherford has been drafted into Mumbai’s playing XI.
Nevertheless, Suryakumar’s absence may not significantly impact Mumbai, considering his underwhelming campaign to date. The precise-hander has scored only 195 runs from 11 innings at a mean of 17.72, with only one fifty to his name this season. Despite the struggles, the five-time IPL champions retained him for an enormous INR 16.35 crore ahead of the 2026 auction.
MI decide to field first against PBKS, make two changes for IPL 2026 clash
Mumbai Indians stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings of their IPL 2026 encounter. Explaining the choice on the toss, Bumrah said (via Cricbuzz):
“We saw the last game a bit of bit, and we feel that (with) the cold weather coming around, perhaps the wicket will quiet down a bit of bit and the ball will come higher on the second innings.”
Besides Suryakumar Yadav, Allah Ghazanfar was also unavailable for Mumbai Indians’s clash against Punjab Kings. Alternatively, the Punjab Kings side, led by Shreyas Iyer, made three changes, bringing in Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett, and Azmatullah Omarzai to the playing XI.
Having suffered 4 consecutive defeats, Punjab shall be eager to bounce back and strengthen their possibilities of securing a top-two finish within the IPL 2026 standings ahead of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Mumbai have already been eliminated from the competition, with just three victories from 11 games this season.
The last meeting between the 2 sides in IPL 2026 saw Punjab Kings defeat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on the Wankhede Stadium.
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