59 minutes ago
9
The Mumbai Indians (MI) are officially out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The 5-time champions might talk about ‘playing for pride’ in the coming days, but it’s time to play for the future. One full season remains before the mega auction. Therefore, Mumbai will need to decide how to retain and whom to release.
No Hardik Pandya in MI vs PBKS
MI captain Hardik Pandya won’t play against the Punjab Kings (PBKS). The all-rounder hasn’t featured in the last two matches. He held a batting session at the Reliance Corporate Park in Mumbai on May 12 and trained for over 3 hours. However, despite all this, Hardik isn’t expected to play. He hasn’t travelled with the team to Dharamshala. Suryakumar Yadav will continue to lead the team.
Time to test Mohammed Izhar
Since nothing was going right, Mumbai experimented by playing 24 players, not including the injured ones, in IPL 2026. Despite this, they have not tried Mohammed Izhar, a left-arm fast bowler from Bihar. After Boult and Chahar weren’t working and Ashwani Kumar and Krish Bhagat were moved on from, the expectation was that Izhar would be given a chance.
Yet, Izhar hasn’t been tried. Instead, Mumbai reverted to Chahar, who performed well against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). However, the move was questionable, as Chahar had gone wicketless in 3 prior matches and, despite doing well in the last game, has a season economy of 11.24.
Deepak Chahar has played 5 matches despite going at 11.24 runs per over | Image Credit: AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade via AlamyIzhar should’ve been the one to play. He’s proficient with the new ball and bowls around 135, like Bhagat. He’s got hefty praise from a former left-arm pacer. Prior to IPL 2026 commencing, Irfan Pathan had praised the youngster for bowling sharper bouncers and possessing an incredible slower ball. If even he’s impressed, surely he deserves a go. At least now.
“His back-of-the-hand slower one is very good. In his action, his short balls look very fast. He also bowls at the fuller length. He can bowl at a speed of 135 km/h. But it is his slow ball that will be interesting to watch. When he plays, his slower ball can trouble even the best batters. From what little has been observed so far, he looks capable of doing that,” Pathan had said on his YouTube channel.
Predicted MI Playing XI vs PBKS
| 1 | Ryan Rickelton (wk) | Wicketkeeper |
| 2 | Naman Dhir | Top-order batter |
| 3 | Suryakumar Yadav | Middle-order batter |
| 4 | Tilak Varma | Middle-order batter |
| 5 | Raj Bawa | All-rounder (pace) |
| 6 | Will Jacks | Batting all-rounder (spin) |
| 7 | Corbin Bosch | Bowling all-rounder (pace) |
| 8 | Mohammed Izhar | Left-arm fast bowler |
| 9 | Allah Ghazanfar | Mystery spinner |
| 10 | Jasprit Bumrah | Right-arm fast bowler |
| 11 | Raghu Sharma | Leg spinner |
| Impact Sub | Rohit Sharma | Opener |
The post Predicted MI Playing XI vs PBKS: No Hardik Pandya, Deepak Chahar to be benched for Mohammed Izhar? appeared first on Inside Sport India.
.png)
English (US) ·