Star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is leading Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2026 match against Chennai Super Kings. In the fixture taking place at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Hardik won the toss and invited CSK to bat first after which riding on Sanju Samson’s unbeaten century (101 from 54 balls), they posted a total of 207 for 6 in their quota of 20 overs.
During the 18th over of CSK’s innings, Hardik gave an epic reaction after his duplicate was spotted among the fans present at Wankhede Stadium.
The clip of Hardik’s epic reaction is now going viral on the internet.
Here’s a look:
A lookalike of Hardik Pandya showed up in the stadium to watch the match. When the cameraman spotted him and put him on screen, even Hardik couldn’t stop laughing and gave
a thumbs-up 😂
— ValenceCricket (@CricketValence) April 23, 2026
Hardik, who is yet to come up with a match-winning performance for Mumbai Indians in the ongoing 2026 edition of the IPL, bowled two overs against Chennai Super Kings on Thursday but got hammered for 38 runs. He was taken to cleaners by CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson. While Gaikwad smashed his MI counterpart for two fours and one six in the 2nd over of CSK’s innings, Samson slammed two fours and two sixes off Hardik’s bowling in the fourth over.
Samson creates history
Samson entered his name in the history books on Friday by becoming the first Chennai Super Kings batter to score 100 in an IPL match against Mumbai Indians. The 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala played an unbeaten knock of 101 runs from 54 balls for the Chennai-based franchise.
During his stay at the crease, Samson hammered 10 fours and 6 sixes.
Samson, who joined CSK from Rajasthan Royals in a trade deal ahead of IPL 2026, reached the 100-run mark by hitting Krish Bhagat for a four on the last ball of CSK’s innings.
Samson is overall the third batter after Sanath Jayasuriya and Rohit Sharma to score a century in IPL matches played between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
