Former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma missed out the clash against the Punjab Kings on Thursday. The Indians hosted the Kings in the 24th game of the IPL 2026 at Wankhede Stadium on April 16, 2026. The game saw the visiting skipper Shreyas Iyer winning the toss and inviting the rivals to put the score on the board first. During the toss, home captain Hardik Pandya revealed that Sharma would not feature in the playing XI of Blue and Gold brigade against the last year’s finalists.

“Ro misses out from last game, he will take a couple of games,” Pandya told Ravi Shastri during the toss. For the unversed, Sharma’s absence comes due to the hamstring injury he suffered during their previous clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. While batting against the RCB, he faced an issue in his right hamstring which eventually forced him to retire hurt. Since then, there were speculations about him missing the game, until Pandya cleared them.

 

When will Rohit Sharma return to action?

The Mumbai Indians, who haven’t been able to record a win since their opening-game victory, would miss the veteran batter for a couple of games. It means that his return could happen during the El-Clasico, against Chennai Super Kings, next week. However, official statements are awaited. Coming back to the game, the Indians will have Quinton-de-Kock stepping in as an opener alongside Ryan Rickelton against the Punjab Kings.

“And Mitchell is unwell as well. So Mitchell Santner also is not available. So, yeah, we got a couple of changes. Quinny comes back and we have a debutant, Mayank Rawat,” Pandya said about the changes in the squad. On the other hand, the Punjab Kings have the same playing XI.

Here’s how the squad looks like for both teams for Thursday’s game-

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

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