Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) Former Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was rested after suffering a hamstring injury in the previous match, as Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first in Match 24 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

There was much speculation about Rohit’s availability for the match, and the Mumbai Indians kept the cards under wraps, assessing the situation till Thursday. But they eventually decided not to take a risk and rested him for the match.

With Rohit rested. Quinton de Kock got the chance to partner his compatriot Ryan Rickelton at the top. At the toss, Hardik Pandya said New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner is unwell and has been rested, while his compatriot Trent Boult made way for Deepak Chahar.

MI also decided to blood Mayank Rawat, handing him his first cap, while PBKS decided to go with the same playing XI.

Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer said he spoke to some players and said that with the dew coming in, the pitch will play better, which was why he opted to bowl first.

“So far, so good, we’ve got a brilliant start. That’s all a captain can ask for. Our combination has been splendid. I ask the team to be proactive throughout. It’s easy to become complacent; you have to stay in the zone. Pitch looks dry, but players have said it gets better with dew,” he said.

MI captain Hardik Pandya, too, would have bowled first. “We were looking to bowl first as well, but a good toss to lose. Time to play good cricket and get a win. We’ve played good cricket, but have lost big moments. Last game, we went for four 20-plus overs, which isn’t acceptable. We’ve spoken and planned about it,” said Hardik.

Playing XIs:

Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (capt), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Mayank Rawat, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah

Impact substitutes: AM Ghazanfar, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Ashwani Kumar

Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact substitutes: Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Harpreet Brar, Suyansh Shedge, Yash Thakur

–IANS

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