Ahead of their upcoming match against Punjab Kings, Mumbai Indians have recruited 21-year-old Krish Bhagat from Punjab to fill the vacancy left by an injured all-rounder. With Atharva Ankolekar unavailable, the Mumbai franchise has signed Bhagat for the remainder of the IPL 2026 season. The young all-rounder from Mumbai Indians, Atharva Ankolekar, has been ruled out of the 2026 Indian Premier League. To address this, MI has brought in Punjab’s Krish Bhagat for the rest of the tournament at a cost of Rs 30 lakh.
While Bhagat is a pace-bowling all-rounder who has participated in MI trials over the last two years, he is currently awaiting his debut in the domestic T20 format. His professional experience includes seven first-class matches and nine List A appearances. In the red-ball arena, he has taken seven wickets with a 36 average while contributing 145 runs across 10 innings at an average of 18.12. In List A cricket, he maintains a bowling average of 29.55 with nine wickets. His batting in that format includes 52 runs from three innings, highlighted by a half-century against Uttarakhand during the 2025-26 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Bhagat officially joins the squad just as Mumbai Indians prepare to host the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Wankhede Stadium on April 16.
Current Mumbai Indians Squad for IPL 2026
Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Sherfane Rutherford, Ryan Rickelton, Quinton De Kock, Danish Malewar, N. Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Mayank Rawat, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Izhar, Allah Ghazanfar, Krish Bhagat.
Update on Rohit Sharma’s Participation
There is uncertainty regarding whether Rohit Sharma will feature in the game against PBKS following a hamstring issue sustained during the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). During the pre-match briefing, Naman Dhir could not confirm Rohit’s status for the home fixture.
Nevertheless, the veteran opener participated in a net session where he faced throwdowns the day before the match. If he is cleared to play, he will likely serve as an impact player. Should he be unavailable, MI might look toward Will Jacks, Quinton de Kock, or the uncapped Danish Malewar. To date, Ryan Rickelton has been preferred over De Kock, and Jacks was previously away from the team for personal reasons.
