Rohit Sharma Unfit Again: MI Elect to Bat vs SRH in IPL 2026

Mumbai Indians have made multiple changes to their lineup, bringing in Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks, Robin Minz, and Trent Boult, while Quinton de Kock, Sherfane Rutherford, Shardul Thakur, and Krish Bhagat miss out. Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad have drafted in Travis Head and Harsh Dubey in place of Aniket Verma and Shivang Kumar as they tweak their combination for the clash.

Mumbai Indian captain Hardik Pandya said, "Ah, we are going to bat first. Looks like a good breezy evening. It's still cold compared to the general weather. So, I don't think dew is something we are going to keep in mind. We will look to bat well and then see how much we can score. I think it was important for all of us to just reset, not get too complicated, just get a good couple of boys' evenings and also a good couple of sessions. We just ticked all the boxes, refreshed ourselves, and now we are excited for the game."

On the changes, Pandya said, "Yeah, Mitch (Santner) was an unfortunate injury. So Quinny (de Kock) was not well today. He just did something to his wrist. We have a couple of changes for this team. Ryan (Rickelton) comes in place of Quinny. Robin Minz is playing. I will give you the team."

On the delay in the return of Rohit Sharma, Pandya mentioned, "Ro is going to take a couple of more games. He has been trying, but it's not up to exactly where he would want. So, he is not available for this game. I just want to come out and play my best cricket. That will definitely help the group and the team."

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins said, "We would have bowled. A little bit of tackiness in the wicket. So, happy to bowl. I think it's about resetting your expectations each game. This pitch might ask you different questions, and it's about assessing the conditions.

On changes, Cummins said, "Harsh Dubey comes in place of Shivang. At this stage, this is the only change."

On speaking with bowlers when things aren't going their way, Cummins mentioned, "Hopefully, they trust me with what I say. I got information on how the pitch behaves because I also bowl. I have gone for runs in the past. Just putting your arm around and giving them the confidence."

Playing XIs:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Harsh Dubey, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga

Impact substitutes: Smaran Ravichandran, Aniket Verma, Harshal Patel, Shivang Kumar, Liam Livingstone

Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Will Jacks, Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Robin Minz, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar

Impact substitutes: Raj Angad Bawa, Shardul Thakur, Raghu Sharma, Mayank Rawat, Krish Bhagat

- IANS