Hardik Pandya did not play for Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2026 match against Lucknow Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.Surya Kumar Yadav came out for the toss in his place and said that Hardik was unwell. Mumbai Indians later confirmed that the skipper was dealing with a back problem.Surya Kumar, who has come under fire for his form this season, was seen chatting with LSG captain Rishabh Pant over the toss. He said that he is recruiting for Hardik.“He’s not well tonight, so I’m just stepping into his shoes,” Surya Kumar said in the toss.Mumbai Indians have had a slow start to the season and are currently ninth on the points table with four points, same as Lucknow Supergiants, who are at the bottom.Hardik has also struggled with both bat and ball this season. He has scored 146 runs in eight innings at an average of 20.85 and a strike rate of 136.44.With skipper Hardik Pandya sitting out, Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Supergiants.With Pandya out, Mumbai Indians brought in Corbin Bosch in place of Trent Boult, while Rohit Sharma is back in the mix after an injury layoff and has made an impact on the bench.Lucknow Supergiants also made some changes to their playing XI, debuting Josh Ingles while Mukul Choudhary replaced Akshit Raghunshi. TeamsMumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ryan Rickleton (W), Naman Dhir, Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Tilak Verma, Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar, Raghu SharmaImpact Player Options for Mi – Rohit Sharma, Mayank Rawat, Robin Munns, Shardul Thakur, and Trent Boult.Lucknow Supergiants (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (W/C), Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Akshit Raghunshi, Himat Singh, Mohammad Shami, Mohsin Khan, Awish Khan, Prince YadavImpact player options for LSG – Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Mayank Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Abdul Samad.
