Why is Rohit Sharma not playing LSG vs MI IPL 2025 match? Check MI playing 11

In a massive breaking news development, the Mumbai Indians (MI) are not playing their senior opening batter Rohit Sharma in the 16th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) being played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The five-time champions, Mumbai Indians, made a phenomenal winning comeback in the ongoing edition of the tournament as they registered a commanding victory over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their previous game. Incidentally, the Hardik Pandya-led MI team did not had the best of starts as they suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans in their first two games this season. 

Why is Rohit Sharma not playing today's LSG vs MI IPL 2025 match?

After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya revealed that Rohit Sharma is not part of the MI playing 11 in this game against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday. The MI skipper further mentioned that the senior opening batter got hit on the knee during the practice session and thus, he was not available for selection in this LSG vs MI IPL 2025 match. 13, 8 and 0 are Rohit Sharma's scores in the last three innings during the ongoing Indian Premier League 2025 season while opening the batting for the Mumbai Indians. 

During the IPL 2024 season, Rohit Sharma managed to score a total of 417 runs from as many as 14 matches at a brilliant strike-rate of 150. On the other hand, the experienced Indian opener went on to smash an impressive tally of 257 runs in 8 games at an exceptional strike-rate of over 156 during the winning T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. While talking about the overall Rohit Sharma stats in IPL, the right-handed batter has notched up a total of 6649 runs from 260 games at a strike-rate of 131.05. The MI team management retained the most successful IPL captain at a price of INR 16.30 Crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Therefore, Mumbai Indians do know that Rohit can be a very dangerous player when he gets back in form. 

In the absence of Rohit Sharma, the overseas duo of Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks are very much likely to open the batting for the Mumbai Indians. 22-year-old all-rounder Raj Bawa has also been drafted into the Mumbai Indians playing XI for this game and he will be eyeing to contribute well both with the bat and ball. 

"We are gonna bowl first. Looks like a fresh wicket. Not sure how it is going to play. Looks a decent track. Dew might come in later. Thought better to chase. I think we in a group have spoken that we don't want to talk about the wickets. We are here to play good cricket. That's the talk we have had. Let's not talk about the surfaces as a team. I think adaptation (key to success in IPL). Sticking to right plans and being smart. Lot of runs are being scored. Cricket is situation based. Rohit was hit on the knee during practice . He is missing out. Jasprit (Bumrah) should be back soon," stated Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya during the toss. 

Presenting our squad for the लखनवी challenge 📝⚔

⬅ Rohit misses out due to an injury
➡ Bawa makes his debut #MumbaiIndians #PlayLikeMumbai pic.twitter.com/Rg0OH1Xh1c

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 4, 2025

MI Playing 11

Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Raj Bawa, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Vignesh Puthur, Trent Boult.

MI IPL 2025 Squad

Hardik Pandya (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Shrijith Krishnan, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevan Jacobs, Lizaad Williams, Arjun Tendulkar, Vignesh Puthur.