Shardul Thakur bats for Mumbai Indians during his team’s IPL 2026 match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday.Interestingly, Shardul Thakur was not part of Mumbai’s starting eleven and not even an impact player. Mumbai have already used Danish opener Malewar as their impact player in place of Allah Ghazanfar.Shardul Thakur came out to bat in the thirteenth over of the second innings as Noor Ahmad dismissed Hardik Pandya and Sherfan Rutherford off consecutive balls.
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Ravindra Jadeja picks a crucial turning point in Rajasthan Royals’ winWhy did Shardul come to bat?Shardul Thakur came into bat as a concussion replacement for Mitchell Santner, who was injured in the first innings while attempting a catch.Santner took one wicket and conceded 44 runs in his four overs before he was injured.Mumbai Indians were 95 for 7 at the time of writing.Earlier in the match, Sanju Samson scored his fifth IPL century. He reached the milestone on the last ball of the innings with a Krish Bhagat boundary. It was his second hundred of the season, second for Chennai Super Kings and fifth overall in the IPL.Samson was not out on 101 off 54 balls to help Chennai Super Kings post 207 for 6. He stayed till the end as wickets fell at the other end.He hit 10 fours and six sixes in his innings.For Mumbai Indians, AM Ghazanfar and Ashwani Kumar took two wickets each while Jasprit Bumrah returned figures of 1 for 31.
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