2 min readUpdated: Apr 4, 2026 03:19 PM IST
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya was ruled out of his team’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash against Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Saturday. The franchise confirmed that the 32-year-old was unwell and he could not play the game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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“Hardik Pandya is unwell and hence will not be taking the field today. Suryakumar Yadav, will be the captain today,” MI said in a statement.
Suryakumar Yadav walked out for the toss in Pandya’s place and confirmed that the all-rounder was ill and hence could not take the field
“He’s not well. Just getting into his shoes today. There’s a lot of positivity in the game,” Surya said at the toss.
Deepak Chahar was drafted into the MI playing XI for Pandya and Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner came in for Trent Boult and Allah Ghazanfar. The New Zealander, who was unavailable for the season opener against Kolkata Knight Riders, linked up with the five-time champions before the second match on Saturday.
DC captain Axar Patel won the toss and elected to field first. He reasoned the decision for the pitch to be on the drier side and that they had chased down a score in the last match against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow.
“I choose to bowl first. First match at home, I want to see how the wicket is behaving. It looks a bit dry, a bit hard. We chased well in the last match. To chase down the target from 26/ 4 in the powerplay, it gives a lot of confidence to the group. Even the top-order knows that there are batters in the lower order who can step up if they fail. Playing a home game is always beneficial. Our DC supporters will cheer for us. Same team,” he said.
