PBKS vs MI IPL 2026: Hardik Pandya will be unavailable for Mumbai Indians in clash against Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala while stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav is yet to join the squad as well.
Updated: May 14, 2026 12:25 PM IST
PBKS vs MI IPL 2026: Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have already crashed out of contention for a berth in the Playoffs stages of IPL 2026 after their loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their last game on Sunday in Raipur. Now, ahead of their next match against Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala on Thursday, there is a potential leadership crisis with Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav both set to miss the match.
Regular MI skipper Hardik Pandya missed the last match in Raipur due to back spasms and hasn’t travelled with the team to Dharamshala as well. However, the Team India all-rounder was possibly making a statement by batting till late in the night at a Navi Mumbai stadium on Tuesday.
Apart from Pandya, even stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav hasn’t reached Dharamshala so far either. While the rest of the MI team travelled from Raipur to Chandigarh and onwards to Dharamshala, Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav headed back to Mumbai on Monday. Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav has had a forgettable IPL 2026 season, scoring only 195 runs in 11 matches with only 1 fifty.
He has also recently become father for the first time and would possibly like to spend more time with his wife Devisha Shetty and his new-born child. If both Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are not available for MI, then possibly batter Tilak Verma or even former captain Rohit Sharma can be asked to take charge of the side temporarily.
“It’s obviously been tough. Hardik is not only a leader but a fantastic cricketer as well. We’ve missed his presence when it comes to the on-field stuff. I’m sure the people that are making decisions and the people that are looking after him are trying to do the best for him and for the team itself,” MI all-rounder Corbin Bosch said in the pre-match press conference in Dharamshala on Wednesday.
If Suryakumar Yadav does miss out then possibly Danish Malewar or Robin Minz can be asked to take their place in the playing 12.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, are likely to stick with Australian pacer Ben Dwarshuis ahead of Xavier Bartlett, although he conceded 51 runs in 4 overs in his last match.
Join the team for a training session in today’s #MIDaily! pic.twitter.com/1uwPHAhpW5
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) May 14, 2026
Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians IPL 2026 match no 58 Predicted 12
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (c), Cooper Connolly, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Ben Dwarshuis, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Yash Thakur
Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, AM Ghazanfar, Jasprit Bumrah, Raghu Sharma/Krish Bhagat
