IPL 2026: Why is Hardik Pandya not playing today’s match against Lucknow Super Giants?

Mumbai Indians’ (MI) captain Hardik Pandya isn’t playing Match 47 of the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday, May 4, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. In his place, Suryakumar Yadav filled in as MI captain and informed at the toss that Pandya was unavailable due to fitness issues.

Later, Mumbai Indians' revealed that Pandya had to be benched for the game due to back spasm. It’s the second time this season that Pandya missed a game, as he earlier didn't play Mumbai’s second fixture against Delhi Capitals (DC), where they lost by six wickets. After losing their last three fixtures, MI chose to bowl first against LSG as Corbin Bosch and Rohit Sharma returned to the team.

“Hardik is not well tonight, so just going into his shoes. But yeah, the rest, everything is fine. There's definitely, Cobin Bosch comes in for Trent Boult, and also our very own Rohit Sharma is back,” said Suryakumar Yadav at the toss.

Rohit was unavailable for selection after injuring his hamstring during Match 20 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). However, he finally regained his fitness ahead of the fixture, and his return comes as a major boost for the five-time champions. On the other hand, Corbin Bosch came in for Trent Boult, who’s not having a good season with the ball.

MI placed ninth on points table

MI are placed ninth on the IPL 2026 points table, with just two wins from nine games, having four points to their name. They need to win all of their remaining fixtures to have an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton(w), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar, Raghu Sharma

Mumbai Indians Impact Subs: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Rawat, Robin Minz, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult

Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Himmat Singh, Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav

Lucknow Super Giants Impact Subs: Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Mayank Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad