2 min readUpdated: May 14, 2026 07:19 PM IST
Jasprit Bumrah will make his Mumbai Indians (MI) captaincy debut in the IPL 2026 clash against Punjab Kings in Dharamshala on Thursday.
The 32-year-old will lead the five-time champions in the absence of both regular captain Hardik Pandya and stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav.
“A kid with a unique action bowled yorkers at will. That same kid, now a legend of the game will lead the Blue & Gold in Dharamshala. A journey to be proud of, Captain Jasprit!” Mumbai Indians wrote on Instagram, celebrating his elevation to captaincy.
Bumrah made his IPL debut for MI in 2013 and has since been one of their most reliable performers with the ball. In 156 matches for the franchise, he has taken 186 wickets at an economy rate of 7.33, often delivering in various stages of an innings.
The pacer said that he did not think he would lead India before captaining MI, admitting that they were looking to “ruffle a few teams” after winning the toss and electing to bowl first.
🚨Toss update from Dharamshala 🚨@mipaltan won the toss and elected to bowl first against @PunjabKingsIPL
Jasprit Bumrah leading #MI for the first time
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/idtc2OTLbP#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #PBKSvMI pic.twitter.com/VHm0xIrYoK
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 14, 2026
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
“We have decided to bowl first. We saw the last game and felt maybe with the cold weather coming down the wicket will settle down. I didn’t think that I will be a Test captain before becoming MI captain. As much as we can, we can three games left and we want to enjoy and maybe ruffle a few teams,” Bumrah said at the toss.
He was the highest-paid retention of the franchise ahead of the mega auction in November 2024.
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His appointment as stand-in captain comes at a difficult time for MI, who have already been eliminated from the IPL 2026 playoff race following their defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Raipur on Sunday.
Bumrah has led India in Test cricket and was the captain when the team beat Australia at Perth in the first of five Tests during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
