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In the IPL 2026 match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians` (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya has won the toss and elected to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The “Paltan” will enter the clash with one change, where Krish Bhagat will come in place of Ashwani Kumar.
After winning the toss, MI`s Hardik said, “We are gonna bat first. Looks like a good track. During the World Cup, we played against Zimbabwe where it played really well. Just the way we batted last game, thought we should give one more opportunity to the batters to kind of score runs as much as possible. (On having to win every game now) Oh yeah, I think for the last eight games, it has been that. Now even more. We have to just come out and kind of play our best cricket and see what happens. (Mood in the dressing room) It`s always great. We are professionals. We are supposed to play good cricket. We are supposed to turn up every time. So yeah, the mood has been good. It`s been challenging, but we have a lot to play for, as you said, six games, make sure that we give the best opportunity for ourselves to qualify. And at the same point of time, it`s about playing for pride as well. You play the sport to enjoy, you play the sport to win. So yeah, these are the all things which we have kind of spoken about and kind of focusing on. (Area to improve?) I think just play good cricket overall. Those moments where we have lost games not overall, I feel in 40 overs, I think we have lost those games in maybe 2-3 overs, which were big moments in the game. We could not get it to our side and I think that has cost us games. So today overall, I think if we can play a better game of cricket, overall everyone can chip in, not drop those half chances, create half chances, score as many runs as possible. I think we will be in a good place. We have one debut. The leggie (Raghu Sharma) plays his first game for MI. And Krish (Bhagat) comes back for Ashwani”.
On the other hand, the Super Kings will head into the match with two changes. Kartik Sharma will make way for Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, and Mukesh Choudhary will replace Akeal Hosein and Gurjapneet Singh, respectively.
CSK`s captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad, said, “We were looking to bat first, but the wicket looks really good. A bit on the drier side, but I don`t think it will change too much throughout the course of the game, so really happy to bowl first as well. It was a bit difficult last game. We were put into a tough situation, but we recovered really well, we got to a competitive score. And I felt even after that, we bowled really well in patches, whoever was bowling. A bit tough track to bat on last game, but confidence-wise, everyone is really up there. (What do you tell the boys when in a tough spot?) Well, nothing, just stick to your process, keep it really simple, try and do the basics, right. Yes, it`s a pressure, it`s a must-win game, but at the end, you have to do your process right and the result will come. We`ve got a couple of changes. (Ramakrishna) Ghosh comes in for Gurjapneet and (Prashant) Veer comes in for Akeal”.
IPL 2026, Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings: Confirmed Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians: Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Robin Minz, Krish Bhagat, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar.
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Urvil Patel, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary.
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