Mumbai Indians (MI) are in a desperate position. With four losses in five games, they are at the rock bottom of the IPL 2026 points table. To add salt to the wounds, they lost their talisman Rohit Sharma due to a hamstring injury. He was retired out in a home game before missing the last clash against the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Meanwhile, another star player in Mitchell Santner had to sit out. Now, MI bowling coach Paras Mhambrey has come up with an update.
Mumbai will be looking to arrest their slide when they meet Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday night. Mind you, MI have never beaten GT at their home. The five-time champions really need some inspiration and having Rohit back in the side will be rejuvenating for them. And as Mhambrey mentioned, that could really be the case.
Rohit Sharma likely to play GT vs MI clash
Mhambrey, who attended the pre-match press conference for the GT vs MI clash, revealed a thing or two about Rohit and even Santner’s injury updates. As for Rohit, he suffered a hamstring injury while batting against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He missed the game after, against PBKS, as MI brought in Quinton de Kock and Mayank Rawat. De Kock delivered fantastically, scoring a century on his MI return.
Now, Rohit was seen batting in the nets ahead of the clash against Gujarat in Ahmedabad. Mhambrey gave a crucial update, stating that he and Santner, who was under the weather, are fit again. “Both are fit. In fact, if you are just walking by the nets out here, if you just look at Rohit’s batting. So yeah, he is working on it. Santner is fit. So, unfortunately, we missed him (Santner) in the last game, picked up a bug. Not something that we could do. But both are fit, yeah.”
Having said that, Rohit practised before the Punjab game as well. However, at the toss, Hardik Pandya mentioned Rohit could miss “a game or two”. This suggests that Rohit might just be easing into full fitness and may just sit out for another match before regaining his best back. As for Santner, he has come back into the side, with MI’s bowling going all around the park in this tournament.
Having Rohit will be incredible news for Mumbai. Without him, they have to include both overseas opening options in Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton. This is forcing MI to bench Trent Boult. Although Boult hasn’t had a great season so far, he is still one of the safest options with the new ball. Rohit, meanwhile, was in a great touch when he played the first four matches. He hammered 137 runs at 34.25 and 165.06. Rohit would be rearing to make a comeback in the side and help MI get back to the winning ways.
Predicted Mumbai Indians Playing XI vs Gujarat Titans
| S. No. | Player | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quinton de Kock ✈️ | Wicketkeeper |
| 2 | Ryan Rickelton ✈️/Rohit Sharma | Wicketkeeper |
| 3 | Suryakumar Yadav | Top-order batter |
| 4 | Tilak Varma | Middle-order batter |
| 5 | Hardik Pandya (c) | All-rounder |
| 6 | Sherfane Rutherford ✈️ | Middle-order batter |
| 7 | Naman Dhir | Finisher |
| 8 | Mitchell Santner✈️/Allah Ghazanfar✈️ | Mystery spinner |
| 9 | Shardul Thakur | Bowling all-rounder |
| 10 | Jasprit Bumrah | Right-arm fast bowler |
| 11 | Ashwani Kumar | Left-arm fast bowler |
| 12 (Impact Sub) | Raghu Sharma | Leg spinner |
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