IPL Dispatch: Shastri’s ‘Lapse’ Under Needless Scanner; Kohli Certain To Play Amid Personnel Changes

On a special day where the groundbreaking ceremony of the first cricket stadium capable of hosting matches for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics took place, fans of the sport were treated to El Clasico between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

The match at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday was, surprisingly, a one-sided affair. CSK sealed a massive 103-run victory. That was in no small part due to the heroics of Sanju Samson, who played a match-winning knock of 101 not out off just 54 balls, marking his second century of IPL 2026 and taking CSK to 207/6.

Samson’s love affair with the Wankhede is evident, with the Kerala batter enjoying a good record at the venue. In 18 matches in the IPL at the Wankhede, Samson has scored 669 runs at an average of 44.6, including a high score of 119. Three of his five IPL centuries have come on this ground.

Wearing black armbands in solidarity with pacer Mukesh Choudhary, who lost his mother a couple of days before the game, CSK’s bowlers picked up the baton where Samson left off. The Chennai players took the field with a different kind of fire in their bellies, decimating the MI batting order with their spin magic.

Akeal Hosein was the star of the show, putting in one of the best performances by an impact substitute in IPL 2026. The West Indies cricketer finished with figures of 4/17 in his four overs, taking the crucial wickets of Danish Malewar and Naman Dhir – both for ducks – and Suryakumar Yadav (35) and Tilak Varma (37).

His spin partner, Noor Ahmad, backed him up perfectly, taking two wickets – captain Hardik Pandya (1) and Sherfance Rutherford (0). Gurjapneet Singh took the wicket of Jasprit Bumrah at the death.

Mukesh also joined in the attack, taking the wicket of opener Quinton de Kock for just seven runs before pointing towards the sky in celebration. The efforts of the CSK bowlers led to MI being dismissed for just 104 within 19 overs.

After this thrilling contest, let’s look at the biggest talking points and news from IPL 2026 from the last 24 hours.

Where Did Shastri Do Wrong?

Even before the first ball was bowled in the MI vs CSK match, one moment blew up the news cycle. It was a supposed “mistake” by commentator Ravi Shastri during the toss that led to several articles criticising his “blunder” and “memory lapse”.

So what was this grave mistake, you may ask? Shastri, one of the most senior and respected commentators in world cricket, took a few seconds in naming the CSK captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad.

That’s all, really. A 63-year-old man took a few seconds to name a team captain during the toss. Certainly not something you would label a mistake or a blunder, but that maybe just us.

Photo of the Day

This photo may not seem like much to many, but for cricket fans, this marks a new dawn – the introduction of cricket as an Olympic sport. It shows the groundbreaking ceremony for the official home venue of the Los Angeles Knight Riders, which will serve as the cricket venue for the LA 2028 Olympics.

Personnel Changes Continue

The IPL season is nearing its midway mark, but teams continue to change and add personnel amid a spate of injuries. Delhi Capitals (DC) were the latest to make a change to their roster, bringing in England spinner Rehan Ahmed as a replacement for Ben Duckett, who pulled out of the IPL before the season began.

On the same day, CSK signed young Akash Madhwal as a replacement for Ayush Mhatre, who was ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury. On Saturday, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) had signed Gerald Coetzee as an injury replacement for David Payne.

Meanwhile, DC added another new player to their roster, with Mitchell Starc being cleared to travel to India to join the franchise ahead of their match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on May 1.

Quote of the Day

It’s rare for a team captain to spend a chunk of his post-match press conference praising an opponent, but such was the performance of Sanju Samson that Hardik Pandya had no choice.

“I think even our spinners bowled pretty well. It’s just that Sanju played an outstanding knock,” Pandya said. “At the same point of time, their batters kept coming and kind of chipping in and got them to a decent total. I think more than a decent total on that track.”

Samson, meanwhile, said that his century was “definitely a special moment” for the opener, who rose to second in the Orange Cap leaderboard.

Kohli Certain To Play

This season has not gone the best for the veterans of Indian cricket. MS Dhoni is yet to make his first appearance in IPL 2026, having not recovered in time from his calf strain to play against MI. It remains to be seen whether the wicketkeeper-batter will appear against Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 26.

Another player who missed the MI vs CSK match was Rohit Sharma. The batter suffered a hamstring injury during the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). In fact, Rohit has played just four of MI’s seven games this season, scoring 134 runs.

Virat Kohli looks certain to buck that trend during RCB’s match against GT on Friday. Kohli has played in all six games for RCB and has two fifties under his belt this season.

However, he did not field in the match against MI, apparently nursing an ankle injury. In the next match against LSG, in which he scored 49, Kohli made his first appearance as an impact substitute in his career.

That changed during the match against DC, where Kohli was named in the playing XI. This is likely to be the case during RCB’s next game as well, as Kohli seems to have put his injury issues behind him and recently took part in the net sessions.

Elsewhere…

Away from the glamour of the IPL, Indian cricket saw a bizarre event during the MLA Trophy summit clash in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. The Dharangaon municipal council president, angry at not being invited to the event, drove a tractor while the match was ongoing and dug up the pitch, forcing the contest to be abandoned.

Outside India, our two neighbours were involved in a tussle after Bangladesh cancelled the no-objection certificate (NOC) of Mustafizur Rahman, preventing him from playing in the remainder of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026 season. The decision was taken to allow Mustafizur to “undergo an immediate scan to further assess his condition”. Nahid Rana’s NOC was also cancelled by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

Mustafizur was certainly busy for Bangladesh today as the Bengal Tigers sealed a 55-run win over New Zealand in the third ODI in Chattogram. The result sealed a 2-1 win for Bangladesh in the ODI series over the Black Caps.

Back in England, two of England’s greatest players, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook, were involved in a war of words over the future of Jacob Bethell in the IPL. So far, Bethell hasn’t made an appearance for RCB in IPL 2026, prompting Cook to say that the English all-rounder “could come back and open for Warwickshire to help England”.

Kevin Pietersen, not one to mince words, fired back at his former teammate. “Alastair Cook has absolutely NO IDEA what it’s like to be in the IPL. What it’s like to always be around the best players in the world,” Pietersen wrote on X.

“So his opinion on Jacob Bethell doesn’t matter at all. Stay in India, Jacob. I know, even though you’re not playing, you’re learning and will be a way better player.”

There’s a chance that Bethell might play for RCB in the match against GT, as he was pictured training for three hours on Tuesday.