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Suryakumar Leads MI as Captain in Hardik's Absence; DC Bowl First

Suryakumar Yadav will captain the Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2026 clash against the Delhi Capitals as regular skipper Hardik Pandya is unwell. Delhi Capitals, led by Axar Patel, won the toss and elected to bowl first in the afternoon match at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Both teams are entering the match with confidence after winning their respective season openers. Mumbai has made three changes to their playing eleven, while Delhi has opted for an unchanged side.

Key Points: IPL 2026: Suryakumar Yadav Captains MI, DC Elect to Bowl

  • Hardik Pandya ruled out ill
  • Suryakumar Yadav steps in as captain
  • Delhi Capitals bowl first unchanged
  • Both teams won their opening matches
2 min read

IPL 2026: Suryakumar leads MI in Hardik's absence as unchanged DC elect to bowl first

Suryakumar Yadav leads Mumbai Indians against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026 as Hardik Pandya is unwell. DC wins toss, chooses to bowl first.

"I'm getting into his shoes today. - Suryakumar Yadav"

New Delhi, April 4

Suryakumar Yadav will be leading Mumbai Indians in the absence of Hardik Pandya as an unchanged Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first double header clash of IPL 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

Both teams are playing their first afternoon clash of the season after winning their respective first games. Hardik wasn't spotted at MI's practice sessions for the last two days in the national capital.

MI have said in a statement that, "Hardik Pandya is unwell and hence will not be taking the field today. Suryakumar Yadav will be the captain today." Suryakumar is coming off after leading India to 2026 Men's T20 World Cup win.

Suryakumar also said Deepak Chahar, Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner have come into the playing eleven in place of Pandya, Trent Boult and AM Ghazanfar. "I'm getting into his shoes today. If you win the first game after 13-14 years, there's a lot of confidence. Toss was irrelevant. We wanted to bat first," he said.

DC skipper Axar Patel said they have retained their playing eleven. First match at home, I want to see how the wicket is behaving. It looks a bit dry, a bit hard. We chased well in the last match.

"To chase down the target from 26/ 4 in the powerplay, it gives a lot of confidence to the group. Even the top-order know that there are batters in the lower order who can step up if they fail. Playing a home game is always beneficial. Our DC supporters will cheer for us," he said.

Playing XIs:

Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (captain), Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, and Mukesh Kumar

Impact Substitutes: Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, and Karun Nair

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Naman Dhir, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, and Jasprit Bumrah

Impact Substitutes: Mayank Markande, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, and Ashwani Kumar

- IANS

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Reader Comments

P
Priya S
Hope Hardik gets well soon. But honestly, SKY is a fantastic leader. His confidence is infectious. Interesting changes in the playing XI though, dropping Boult is a big call on a dry pitch. Hope the bowling holds up.
A
Aman W
DC playing at home with an unchanged side is smart. They have that momentum from the last win. But MI's batting looks very strong even without Hardik. Rohit and SKY together at the top? Dangerous.
S
Sarah B
As a neutral fan, this is a great match-up. Axar's captaincy vs. Suryakumar's fresh energy. The pitch being dry might actually help the spinners later - Kuldeep vs. Santner could be the key battle.
V
Vikram M
Good to see Deepak Chahar back! He's been out of the spotlight for a while. If he gets early swing, DC's top order could be in trouble. But DC's comeback in the last game shows their depth. Tough match to call.
K
Karthik V
Respectfully, I think MI is taking a risk by not playing a specialist spinner from the start on a dry Delhi pitch. Markande on the bench? Santner is good, but two spinners might have been better. Hope the decision doesn't backfire.
N
Nisha Z

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