IPL 2026: Why is Hardik Pandya not playing DC vs MI Match 8?

Delhi Capitals (DC) are hosting Mumbai Indians (MI) in match No. 8 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, April 4.

The Axar Patel-led side started their campaign with a six-wicket win against the Lucknow Super Giants at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium earlier this week. On the other hand, five-time champions Mumbai Indians defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders at the iconic Wankhede Stadium by six wickets.

DC vs MI: Toss Update

Axar Patel won the toss for the Capitals and opted to bowl first. He opined that the wicket is a bit dry. Also, as it is the first match of the season at the Wankhede Stadium, he wants to get an idea about how the pitch is behaving. On the other hand, stand-in Mumbai Indians' captain Suryakumar Yadav sadi that he would have batted first anyway.

MI make wholesale changes to playing XI; DC unchanged

Mumbai Indians made multiple changes to the side that defeated the Knight Riders. Deepak Chahar came into the side in place of Hardik Pandya. Suryakumar said at the toss that the Baroda all-rounder is unwell. Also, Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner come into the lineup in place of Trent Boult and AM Ghazanfar.

DC vs MI: What did the captains say?

Axar Patel, DC captain

I choose to bowl first. 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. Same team.

Suryakumar Yadav, MI captain

(News on Hardik) He's not well, doesn't look good, so he was not fit for today's game. So just getting into his shoes today. (On the win against KKR) If you win the first game after 13-14 years, there's a lot of positivity in the camp, and we're very happy, but completely different venue here from Wankhede. We have to take good responsibility and have a good game here. (On the surface) Looks good, The toss was irrelevant. We wanted to bat first, they wanted to bowl first, but yeah, very happy to bat first. Looks good one. We've done here really well when we've batted first and defended. So yeah, very happy to bat first. Quite a few changes. Deepak Chahar comes in for Hardik. Corbin Bosch comes in for Boulty, that's a tactical change. Boulty had a good game in the last game at Wankhede. And Mitch Santer comes in for Allah Ghazanfar.

DC vs MI: Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals

KL Rahul (WK), Pathum Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (C), Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar

Impact Substitutes: Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi Dar, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair

Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Naman Dhir, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah

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