New Delhi, May 4 -- Mumbai Indians were forced to leave out captain Hardik Pandya against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in an important battle of bottom-placed teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium. Studded with Indian national team starts, the five-time champions are going through a lean phase in this year's IPL, winning just two matches so far.

While everyone expected Pandya to come out for the toss, Indian T20 World Cup-winning skipper Suryakumar Yadav surprised everyone as he walked to the middle alongside LSG's Rishabh Pant in the middle.

"He's (Hardik) not well tonight, so just going into his shoes. But yeah, the rest, everything is fine," informed Suryakumar, when asked about the absence of Pandy...