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Ahead of the eighth match of IPL 2026 between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya was ruled out moments before the toss.
DC vs MI: Why is Hardik Pandya not playing today’s IPL match?
The toss took place at 3:00 pm IST, with Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel winning the toss and opting to bowl first. When asked about Hardik Pandya’s absence, stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav provided a straightforward explanation.
“He’s not well. Just getting into his shoes today,” Suryakumar said during the toss interaction. The statement confirmed that Pandya’s absence was due to a sudden illness rather than any injury or tactical move. The nature of the illness was not disclosed, but the team management decided to rest their premier all-rounder as a precautionary measure.
Three changes in Mumbai Indians’ playing XI
With Pandya unavailable, MI were forced to make three changes to their lineup. Suryakumar revealed the adjustments: “Deepak Chahar comes in. Bosch comes in for Boult. Santner comes in for Ghazanfar.”
Deepak Chahar – The experienced Indian seamer returns to bolster the pace attack.
Corbin Bosch – The South African all-rounder replaces Trent Boult, who was named among the impact substitutes.
Mitchell Santner – The New Zealand left-arm spinner comes in for Afghan mystery spinner Allah Ghazanfar.
The impact substitutes list for MI includes Mayank Markande, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult and Ashwani Kumar, meaning Boult could still enter the game as a substitute later.
Axar Patel’s tactical move: Bowling first at home
DC captain Axar Patel, leading his side in their first home game of the season, had no hesitation in bowling first after winning the toss. Explaining his decision, he said: “First match at home, I want to see how the wicket is behaving. It looks a bit dry, a bit hard. We chased well in the last match.”
Axar referred to DC’s thrilling last-ball victory in their previous outing, where they chased down a target despite being reduced to 26/4 in the powerplay. “To chase down the target from 26/4 in the powerplay, it gives a lot of confidence to the group. Even the top-order know that there are batters in the lower order who can step up if they fail,” he added.
Delhi Capitals fielded an unchanged playing XI from their last match, with impact substitutes including Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi Dar, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera and Karun Nair.
