Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has predicted Mumbai Indians playing XI for the IPL 2026 clash against Rajasthan Royals. MI had suffered a six-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals in the last game at Delhi and they would want to bounce back strongly.
Pathan reckons MI might decide to drop Deepak Chahar. Hardik Pandya is set to return after illness, and the MI captain will replace Corbin Bosch in the playing XI. Thus, Pandya and Trent Boult are expected to open the bowling innings for MI.
Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “Hardik Pandya was bowling in the nets in Guwahati, which means his return for Mumbai is almost certain. Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton. Tilak at number three and Suryakumar at number four, you can adjust that if you want. At number five is Hardik, number six is Sherfane Rutherford, number seven is Naman Dhir, number eight is Santner, number nine is Shardul Thakur. That’s an excellent batting lineup.
“At number ten, bring back Trent Boult. Because if Hardik comes in, obviously Deepak Chahar might be dropped. Corbin Bosch could also be out, and Trent Boult can return. Now, when you talk about the other two players, Bumrah is naturally at number eleven,” he added.
The former swing bowler reckons MI will continue to use leg-spinner Mayank Markande as Impact sub. Markande has gone wicketless in the first two games of the tournament.
“At number twelve, how much backing do you want to give Mayank Markande, I’ll be watching that. Markande hasn’t had very good performances so far, but Raghu Sharma is a leg-spinner, an unknown commodity. How Mumbai decides to use him will be interesting to see. For now, they will hope that Mayank Markande performs well.
Pathan believes we might see Raghu Sharma get his chances in the later games.
If he doesn’t, then Raghu, based on the practice matches I’ve followed, bowls decent trajectories and can get the ball to turn. So it’s possible we might see him play later. But for now, Mumbai will probably go with Mayank Markande,” he added.
MI will face RR in Guwahati on Tuesday.
