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Already ousted Mumbai Indians (MI) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash in Dharamsala on May 14.
In absence of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah was handed the responsibility to lead the MI pack. This is for the first time Bumrah is leading MI since joining them. At the toss, Bumrah revealed Suryakumar Yadav is sitting out of the clash due to personal reason. Besides Hardik-Suryakumar's absence, Allah Ghazanfar also missed out of the match. Meanwhile, Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett and Azmatullah Omarzai walked into PBKS' playing XI.
What did the captains say at the toss?
MI's stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah, after winning the toss, said:
"We will bowl first. (Reason for bowling first?) We saw the last game a little bit and we feel that, (with) the cold weather coming around, maybe the wicket will settle down a little bit and the ball will come better on the second innings. (How does it feel to captain MI for the first time?) Yeah, it feels good. I came here as a 19-year-old. I didn't think that I'll be a Test captain before I'll captain Mumbai Indians. But this is a fun place to be. You look after everyone and you want to contribute in whatever way possible. So, I like responsibility. This is a new challenge. I'll look to have fun. (What do MI want to get out these games?) Actually, I don't want to park it (leaving the tough season behind) because when cricket gives you good days, you take it. When it gives you challenges, it's come to teach you something. So, I take it in my stride, try to learn from it and accept it fully because this is the beauty of cricket. (What do you want to take out of these games?) As much as we can, you know, positives that we can and we play good cricket. We've got three games left. We want to enjoy. We want to enjoy each other's company and create an impact and maybe, you know, ruffle a few teams. (Changes to your side?) We've got two changes. Surya (SKY) is not here due to personal reasons and Allah (Ghazanfar) is out as well."
Meanwhile, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer, after losing the toss, said:
"We would have bowled first as well. The wicket looks a dry and definitely we saw in the last game it got better in the second innings. But barring that I feel 210 or anything above that would be a brilliant score on this wicket. And you still don't know how the wicket is going to play, so still be positive and optimistic. (Fate is still in your hands but what has gone wrong recently?) See, it's of cardinal importance that we stop thinking about what's gone wrong and how we've played throughout the season. We've got a phenomenal start and majority of them have been in great shape and positive mindset. That's all we have to think about and going forward in this game, we have to be proactive in our approach and see to it that we show the best character possible. (Changes?) Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett and Azmatullah Omarzai come in."
Mumbai Indians' playing XI
Ryan Rickelton (wk), Naman Dhir, Sherfane Rutherford, Tilak Varma, Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Raghu Sharma
MI bench: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Rawat, Robin Minz, Krish Bhagat, Trent Boult
Punjab Kings' playing XI
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS bench: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harpreet Brar, Mitchell Owen, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey
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