Five-time champions Mumbai Indians on Monday brought in Raj Angad Bawa for their crucial encounter against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium, making him the 24th player to feature for the franchise
this season, the most by any team this year.
MI haven’t been able to find their groove in IPL 2026, winning just two of their nine matches till now. A loss to LSG on Monday will end their campaign.
Bawa was a direct replacement for skipper Hardik Pandya, who missed out on the big game due to a back spasm.
But this isn’t the first instance when MI have fielded 24 players in a season. In the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, as well as in 2012, they did the same.
MI finished fifth in IPL 2008, while they finished third in IPL 2012.
While their hopes to remain in contention for the IPL playoffs are all but over, there remains an outside chance of qualification, in the hope of which MI made yet another change to their playing XI.
But before all that, MI will have to have their Indian stars doing the heavy lifting, which hasn’t been the case till now.
Pandya’s captaincy has come into focus as MI have endured a hard campaign. Tactically, he has been way off the mark and on Monday, the responsibility is on Suryakumar to take his team over the line and stay alive in the race for the playoffs.
Suryakumar has struggled to convert his starts, often falling while attempting his trademark strokes, a growing concern as he no longer dominates bowlers the way he once did.
If not with the bat, Suryakumar will be desperate to turn things around for MI with his captaincy.
Suryakumar, who began 2026 with a series of high scores after a forgettable 2025, has slipped into another lean phase where he has not looked out of touch but has also failed to spend enough time at the crease to build a composed knock.
