Why did Hardik Pandya miss DC vs MI clash of IPL 2026?
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Hardik Pandya is the captain of MI in IPL 2026.
Mumbai Indians (MI) are locking horns with Delhi Capitals (DC) in their second game of the Indian Premier League 2026. The encounter got underway at DC’s home ground, Arun Jaitley Stadium, on Saturday, April 4.
Hardik Pandya is the captain of MI in the ongoing tournament. The 5-time champions made a winning start by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their opening game. They chased down a 221-run target in the match by six wickets.
Notably, Hardik Pandya is not part of the DC vs MI clash. In his absence, Suryakumar Yadav is the stand-in captain. At the toss, Surya also informed why Pandya was absent from the clash.
Why is Hardik Pandya not part of the DC vs MI?
Notably, Pandya is not part of the encounter as he is not well. Deepak Chahar was picked as a replacement. MI also replaced Trent Boult with Corbin Bosch and Allah Ghazanfar with Mitchell Santner.
“He’s not well, doesn’t look good, so he was not fit for today’s game. So just getting into his shoes today. Quite a few changes. Deepak Chahar comes in for Hardik. Corbin Bosch comes in for Boulty, that’s a tactical change. Boulty had a good game in the last game at Wankhede. And Mitch Santner comes in for Allah Ghazanfar,” Suryakumar said at the toss.
Meanwhile, DC captain Axar Patel won the toss and chose to field first. They bagged a victory in their opening game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by six wickets. While DC take the fourth spot in the points table, MI are placed in the fifth place. Both of them have two points each.
Why did Hardik Pandya miss the DC vs MI clash?
Hardik Pandya is not part of the match as he is not well.
Who was picked as a replacement in Hardik’s absence from DC vs MI game?
Deepak Chahar was picked as a replacement for Pandya.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.