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, are expected to play Danish Malewar in Rohit’s absence. They tried Ryan Rickelton at the top of the order, before bringing in Malewar, but they weren’t entirely convinced. Despite so, the team management is set to trust Malewar for the role and if he fails to convince against CSK, Mumbai can try Will Jacks in the next game, giving a break to one of the their foreigners.
Rohit, meanwhile, is expected to return to the scheme of things in MI’s 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.
MI opt to bowl
Mumbai have won the toss and elected to bowl first in the clash against Chennai. Ruturaj Gaikwad don’t mind that, though, as he spoke on the importance of putting up a show regardless.
“We 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 you’re batting first or bowling first. So it is just about putting up a great show even if you’re batting first,” 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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