NEW DELHI: Simply moments earlier than the toss, broadcasters introduced that Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya wouldn’t play within the match towards Delhi Capitals on the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Seconds after the announcement, Suryakumar Yadav – smiling, chewing gum, and dressed within the blue and gold jersey – walked out with the staff sheet, shook arms with Ravi Shastri, after which greeted Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel.What adopted was a loud cheer from the Delhi crowd as they noticed their T20 World Cup-winning captain Surya.The large query was: why was Surya main the staff, and why was Hardik lacking such an vital conflict?The second Axar received the toss and opted to area towards Mumbai Indians, and spoke about his staff mixture, the main focus shortly shifted to Surya.“(Hardik Pandya) He is not nicely, would not look good, so he was not match for in the present day’s sport. So simply entering into his footwear in the present day,” Surya, who was the stand-in captain for the Delhi Capitals conflict, mentioned.
Mumbai Indians started their IPL 2026 marketing campaign with a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders.Mumbai Indians introduced in Deepak Chahar instead of Pandya.“(On the win towards KKR) For those who win the primary sport after 13-14 years, there’s a number of positivity within the camp, and we’re very pleased, however utterly totally different venue right here from Wankhede. We now have to take good accountability and have a very good sport right here. (On the floor) Seems to be good, The toss was irrelevant. We needed to bat first, they needed to bowl first, however yeah, very pleased to bat first. Seems to be good one. We have completed right here very well after we’ve batted first and defended. Fairly just a few adjustments. Deepak Chahar is available in for Hardik. Corbin Bosch is available in for Boulty, that is a tactical change. Boulty had a very good sport within the final sport at Wankhede. And Mitch Santner is available in for Allah Ghazanfar,” Surya mentioned.Axar went with the identical aspect towards Mumbai Indians. “I select to bowl first. First match at dwelling, I wish to see how the wicket is behaving. It seems to be a bit dry, a bit arduous. We chased nicely within the final match. To chase down the goal from 26/ 4 within the powerplay, it provides a number of confidence to the group. Even the top-order know that there are batters within the decrease order who can step up in the event that they fail. Taking part in a house sport is at all times useful. Our DC supporters will cheer for us. Identical staff,” Axar mentioned. Groups:Delhi Capitals (Taking part in XI): KL Rahul(w), Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh KumarMumbai Indians (Taking part in XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Naman Dhir, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit BumrahListed below are the Impression substitutes for each the groups:Delhi Capitals Impression subs: Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi Dar, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun NairMumbai Indians Impression subs: Mayank Markande, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar