New Delhi: Moments before the toss, the broadcasters announced. Captain of Mumbai Indians Hardik Pandya Will not play in the match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. A few seconds after the announcement, Surya Kumar Yadav – smiling, chewing gum, and dressed in a blue and gold jersey – walked out with the team sheet, shook hands with Ravi Shastri, and then greeted Delhi Capitals captain Akshar Patel.This was followed by huge cheers from the Delhi crowd when they saw their T20 World Cup winning captain Suriya.The big question was why Suriya was leading the team, and why Hardik missed such an important clash?The moment Axar won the toss and chose to field. Mumbai Indiansand talked about the composition of his team, the focus quickly shifted to Surya.“(Hardik Pandya) He is not well, not looking good, so he was not fit for today’s game. So just stepping into his shoes today,” said Surya, who was the stand-in captain for the Delhi Capitals clash.
Mumbai Indians started their IPL 2026 campaign by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets.Mumbai Indians replaced Pandya with Deepak Chahar.“(Look at the win against KKR) If you win the first game after 13-14 years, there’s a lot of positives in the camp, and we’re very happy, but it’s a completely different place to Wankhede. We have to take good responsibility and play well here. (At the surface) it looks good, the toss is irrelevant. We wanted to bat first, were very happy, but they wanted to bat first. Well, when we batted first and defended, we did very well here. what is Quite a few changes. Deepak Chahar came with Hardik. Corbyn-Bosch comes in for Bolty, a tactical shift. Boulty played well in the last game at Wankhede. And Mitch Santner comes in for Allah Ghazanfar,” Surya said.Axar went with the same team against Mumbai Indians. “I choose to bowl first. The first match at home, I want to see how the wicket behaves. It looks a bit dry, a bit difficult. We chased well in the last match. Chasing the target at 26/4 in the Powerplay, it gives the group a lot of confidence. Even the top order knows there are batsmen who can step up in the lower order. Playing a home game is always beneficial. Our DC supporters will be cheering for us. Same team,” Aksar said. Teams:Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): KL Rahul (W), Patham Nissanka, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (C), Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh KumarMumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (W), Tilak Verma, Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Naman Dhir, Sheriff Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.Here are the Impact Substitutes for both teams:Delhi Capitals Impact Subs: Ashutosh Sharma, Aqib Nabi Dar, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chimera, Karuna NairMumbai Indians Impact Subs: Mayank Markande, Robin Munns, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Ashwini Kumar
