Published on: Apr 24, 2026 1:40 pm IST|Updated on: Apr 24, 2026 2:56 pm IST
The Mumbai Indians succumbed to their fifth loss of Tata IPL 2026 the other night at their home ground, i.e., the Wankhede Stadium, after they were drubbed by their arch-rivals and fellow five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings, by a mammoth margin of 103 runs. With that massive win, the Super Kings have crawled their way to the 5th spot on the points table with 6 points from 7 games and a net run rate in the positive.
Sanju Samson’s second ton of the season and Akeal Hosein’s four-fer stole the show at Wankhede and scripted a massive win for the Super Kings. The two star performers were the talking points of the night, but one decision that surprised everyone was the Mumbai Indians bringing in Shardul Thakur as a concussion sub for Mitchell Santner.
The New Zealand white-ball skipper picked up an injury while taking a fabulous diving catch of Kartik Sharma off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling. The physios made their way to attend to a struggling Santner, who was seen holding his left shoulder after the catch. Replays of the catch showed Santner hit the side of his head on the ground while taking the catch, diving forward, and then his left shoulder hit the ground. The all-rounder was later seen in the dressing room with his shoulder ice pack strapped on.
Santner walked off the field holding his shoulder, but there wasn’t anything skeptical about his head. Later during MI’s batting innings, the team management replaced Santner with Shardul Thakur, which raised quite a few eyebrows. However, Shardul’s innings didn’t last for long, as he struggled throughout his knock, scoring 6 runs from 12 deliveries.
Once the match got over, MI’s head coach, Mahela Jayawardene, explained the situation leading to the concussion substitution made during MI’s batting.
Santner hit his head first, the neck and obviously, the shoulder as well. He then went for a scan. Once he got back he felt dizziness so he was lying down. Yes, the ice was there for the shoulder, but he felt that he wasn’t stable, so we took him for a scan in that situation,” Jayawardene said, speaking in the post-match press conference.“We requested a concussion sub. It’s at the match referee and the umpires’ discretion. They allowed Shardul Thakur. It is what it is. But hopefully, Santner’s injury isn’t too bad. Once he’s back, we’ll have a look at it,” he added.
Santner hit his head first, the neck and obviously, the shoulder as well. He then went for a scan. Once he got back he felt dizziness so he was lying down. Yes, the ice was there for the shoulder, but he felt that he wasn’t stable, so we took him for a scan in that situation,” Jayawardene said, speaking in the post-match press conference.
“We requested a concussion sub. It’s at the match referee and the umpires’ discretion. They allowed Shardul Thakur. It is what it is. But hopefully, Santner’s injury isn’t too bad. Once he’s back, we’ll have a look at it,” he added.
As per Jayawardene, MI requested the match referee and umpires for a concussion sub replacement of Mitchell Santner. Once they allowed the same, then only MI sent Shardul Thakur to bat in the middle. Santner had previously suffered a minor injury to his shoulder while fielding against the Delhi Capitals on April 4, due to which he had to miss MI’s following fixture against the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati.
As per clause 1.2.9 of Tata IPL 2026 playing conditions, if a player sustains a concussion or suspected concussion due to a head or neck injury during the course of the match, then only the team is allowed to send a like-for-like replacement onto the field as a concussion sub. Here’s what else the law states:
“The IPL match referee should ordinarily approve a concussion replacement request if the replacement is a like-for-like player whose inclusion will not excessively advantage his team for the remainder of the match.“If the IPL match referee believes that the inclusion of the nominated concussion replacement, when performing their normal role, would excessively advantage their team, the IPL match referee may impose such conditions upon the identity and involvement of the concussion replacement as he/she sees fit, in line with the overriding objective of facilitating a like-for-like replacement for the concussed player.”
“The IPL match referee should ordinarily approve a concussion replacement request if the replacement is a like-for-like player whose inclusion will not excessively advantage his team for the remainder of the match.
“If the IPL match referee believes that the inclusion of the nominated concussion replacement, when performing their normal role, would excessively advantage their team, the IPL match referee may impose such conditions upon the identity and involvement of the concussion replacement as he/she sees fit, in line with the overriding objective of facilitating a like-for-like replacement for the concussed player.”
After last night’s humiliation at the hands of their arch-rivals, Chennai Super Kings, the Mumbai Indians now find themselves in a spot of bother. The Indians from Mumbai have now succumbed to their 5th defeat of the season from 7 games and have only 2 wins to show on their CV. They are languishing at the 8th spot on the points table with 4 points and a net-run-rate of -0.736. With the season half done for them, they need to win at least 6 of their next games to stand a chance of making it to the playoffs. Take a look at their remaining fixtures for this season.
With the race to the playoffs getting tougher for Mumbai Indians, it’s high time for the 5-time champions to peak now and get their campaign back on track.
Tags: IPL 2026