After a crushing six-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals in their previous IPL 2026 encounter, Mumbai Indians (MI) have got some relief as their captain Hardik Pandya is performing well. Hardik Pandya is likely to return to action soon after missing the match against Delhi Capitals.
The Mumbai Indians captain was suffering from a viral infection for a few days, which kept him away from training and ultimately forced him to miss the IPL 2026 league match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, April 4.
Hardik Pandya’s viral illness
Hardik surprised and worried everyone after sending Suryakumar Yadav for the toss in Delhi. India’s T20I captain Suryakumar took over the captaincy and revealed that Hardik was feeling unwell.
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This was not a good sign, as the MI skipper had already missed two training sessions ahead of this match against the Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium due to the virus. This caused concern among MI fans, who thought the illness was serious.
But the latest report in Times of India suggests that Hardik was rested for the DC vs MI match as a precautionary measure, and he should be ready to face Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on April 7.
Hardik Pandya ready to make a comeback after viral scare
The Mumbai Indians team management did not want to take any risks with their main all-rounder so early in the tournament. He felt it would be better to rest Pandya while he recovered rather than push him into a challenging afternoon match, and that too in hot and difficult conditions.
After being away from the field for the last few days, the star all-rounder’s recovery has brought a huge sigh of relief inside the MI camp. The report claims that after losing the match to Delhi Capitals in Delhi, Hardik traveled with the Mumbai Indians team to Guwahati and is expected to resume training when they start preparing for the RR match.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians made a winning start to their IPL 2026 campaign by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. But without Pandya, the five-time champions fell face down in Delhi against Delhi Capitals.
Sameer Rizvi delivered another stellar performance in the ongoing IPL 2026 as Delhi Capitals chased down the target of 163 runs with six wickets in hand and 11 balls remaining against Mumbai Indians. The 22-year-old player played a stormy innings of 90 runs in 51 balls with the help of seven fours and seven skyscraper sixes.
DC made a slow start on a slightly sluggish pitch, but Pathum Nissanka (44) provided the early fire before Rizvi shifted the match completely. His explosive innings in the 11th over against Corbin Bosch, where he hit two fours and two sky-scraping sixes for 20 runs, ended MI’s hopes.
Rizvi, who scored unbeaten 70 against Lucknow Super Giants, proved that he is the new match winner of DC. Earlier, DC bowlers restricted MI to 162/6, with stand-in captain Suryakumar scoring 51 while Rohit Sharma made 35, but the rest of the batting unit struggled in Delhi.