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In match no.58 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, the two heavyweight sides clashed against each other at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala. Punjab Kings (PBKS) hosted the five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in one of the most picturesque stadiums in world cricket. However, for obvious reasons, Hardik Pandya has been missing out on the match.
Jasprit Bumrah will be leading the side in the absence of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. The two are today unavailable due to respective reasons. The speedster has never captained MI before this 2026 match. Bumrah has led the Indian national team in Test cricket, serving as captain in two Border-Gavaskar Trophy tests in 2024-25 and against England in 2022.
Why Hardik Pandya is not playing today’s game?
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has been struggling with back spasms and has played just 8 games this season, missing out on four. He struggled with form and has been a part of MI’s disappointing campaign, where they were eliminated early in the tournament once again. In the last three seasons, MI have qualified once for the playoffs under his captaincy,
Hardik has scored 146 runs in 8 matches, and his strike rate has also dipped, and only picked up four wickets. This has been one of the key concerns for MI’s downfall this season. Despite a decent T20 World Cup, Pandya has failed to keep up the momentum and once again disappointed the management and the fans since his return in 2023.
Suryakumar Yadav misses out due to personal reasons
Apart from Hardik Pandya, another player who is going to miss out on this game is Suryakumar Yadav. The vice-captain of the side was leading in Hardik’s absence, but he is also missing this game. The reason has not been cleared yet, but SKY and his wife recently gave birth to a baby girl ahead of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) match.
He is reportedly granted parental leave by the franchise, especially with Mumbai already out of contention for a playoff race. The India captain has also struggled with form this IPL, scoring just 195 runs in 11 innings with an average of 17.73. This has been another concern for the management and the coaching staff.
I didn’t think that I will be a Test captain before becoming MI captain- Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah was there at the toss and won it as well and opted to field first. He said, “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 (smiles).”
“As much as we can, we can three games left and we want to enjoy and maybe ruffle a few teams. Surya is not here for personal reasons and Allah is not there as well.
Also Read: PBKS vs MI Impact Players Today: Toss Report, Playing XIs, Latest Updates IPL 2026 Match 58
