Why did Sherfane Rutherford miss CSK vs MI clash of IPL 2026?
(Courtesy : BCCI/IPL)
Sherfane Rutherford last played in the MI vs CSK clash on April 23.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) are squaring off in the 44th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on Saturday (May 2), which is the second clash between both sides in the tournament. CSK’s home ground, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, is hosting the clash between the two top sides.
The previous clash between both sides took place at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 23. Chennai crushed Mumbai by a huge margin of 103 runs. They posted a mammoth 207/6 in the first innings with Sanju Samson’s century and dismantled MI for just 104 runs.
In the ongoing clash, MI captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bat first. Notably, Sherfane Rutherford is not part of the clash. He also missed MI’s previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Why is Sherfane Rutherford not playing CSK vs MI clash of IPL 2026?
Rutherford was dropped in the previous game against Sunrisers and replaced by Robin Minz in the playing XI. The decision was taken to manage the overseas limit, although Pandya did not reveal the exact reason.
Due to Rohit Sharma’s injury, England batter Will Jacks is opening the batting at the moment for MI with Ryan Rickelton. This has forced them to drop overseas batter Rutherford.
Hence, Mumbai have retained Minz in the clash against CSK and overlooked Rutherford once again. Interestingly, Rutherford last played in the MI vs CSK clash on April 23 at Wankhede, where he bagged a duck. In the prior two games, he could only score one run each.
The left-handed batsman also scored an unbeaten 71 against RCB in a losing cause, which is his lone half-century across seven games. At an average of 25.75 and a strike rate of 190.74, Rutherford has piled up 103 runs in six innings, including two unbeaten knocks.
Meanwhile, Mumbai have made only two changes in their playing XI against CSK. Raghu Sharma and Krish Bhagat were added to the side. Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Trent Boult, and AM Ghazanfar are four overseas players in MI’s team.
Is Sherfane Rutherford part of CSK vs MI clash?
No, he is not part of MI’s playing XI in the match.
How many games has Sherfane Rutherford played in IPL 2026?
He has played seven games in the tournament.
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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.