Rohit has played 165 successive IPL games. (Source: PTI) Rohit has played 165 successive IPL games. (Source: PTI) Rohit Sharma had to miss his first IPL game for Mumbai Indians since 2011 after being ruled out of the clash against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday with a hamstring injury. Kieron Pollard, who has captained Mumbai Indians in three games in 2014, but in the Champions League T20, will be leading MI. After sitting out for the past four years, Siddhesh Lad finally makes his IPL debut. Rohit Sharma had suffered right leg muscle spasm on Tuesday during training. He had recovered significantly in the past 24 hours but as a precautionary measure, Mumbai Indians management has decided to rest Rohit for one match. Before the start of the IPL, a lot of debate was around the workload management of players, which will end few days before the ICC showpiece begins in the United Kingdom on May 30. Sharma’s injury scare comes days before the announcement of India’s 15-man World Cup squad. The World Cup will kickstart on May 30 in England, with India playing their first match against South Africa on June 5. Stand-in skipper Pollard won the toss for Mumbai Indians against KXIP and said, “We will bowl first because of the dew factor. We don’t think wicket will change much here at the Wankhede stadium. Rohit is fine but as a precautionary measure we have decided to give him as a rest. Siddhesh lad comes in place of Rohit. He has waited for 5 years to make his debut. Joseph was special for us in Hyderabad and it was a tough team meeting.” KXIP also made a couple of changes: Mayank Agarwal was replaced by Karun Nair because he could not recover from his finger injury. Hardus Viljoen replaced Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Teams: Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Siddhesh Lad, Quinton de Kock(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard(c), Hardik Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Alzarri Joseph, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Sam Curran, Hardus Viljoen, Mohammed Shami, Ankit Rajpoot<doc-sep>MUMBAI: India vice-captain Rohit Sharma on Monday missed out on an IPL game for the first time in 11 years due to leg spasm and it will keep the national selection committee worried, five days ahead of the World Cup squad announcement.In the last 11 seasons, Rohit has consistently played in the league, first for the now- defunct Deccan Chargers and then his current team Mumbai Indians "Rohit Sharma had suffered right leg muscle spasm yesterday during training. Rohit has recovered significantly in past 24 hours. As a precautionary measure, Mumbai Indians management has decided to rest Rohit for one match vs KXIP," MI said in a statement.While it may just be a scare but any degree of injury to any WC squad member will keep everyone concerned. "Rohit is fine but as a precautionary measure we have decided to give him as a rest," stand-in captain Kieron Pollard said.With MI playing three games in the next eight days, the Indian team management will keep a tab on his injury management.Rohit has been crucial in the top order for the Indian team and coach Ravi Shastri and physio Patrick Farhart will keep a keen eye on his recovery.It is expected that Farhart will be co-ordinating with MI Physio Nitin Patel on his injury management programme as it is the case with all centrally-contracted players in the league.<doc-sep>IPL 2019: Siddhesh Lad replaces Rohit Sharma; Kieron Pollard to lead Mumbai Indians Rohit suffered a right leg muscle spasm on Tuesday. Rohit Sharma got injured in the training session on Tuesday and since then there were speculations about his participation in the game against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). It was also unknown as to who will lead the Mumbai Indians (MI) if he misses out this game. Though the franchise didn’t reveal much about Rohit over the last 24 hours, it has finally been understood that Siddhesh Lad has replaced his skipper. Lad is making his IPL debut and he deserves a chance after spending almost five seasons on the bench. Meanwhile, Kieron Pollard will lead the Mumbai side in the game as the franchise, in its statement released on their official website, confirmed that the team management has decided to rest Rohit Sharma as a precautionary measure. “Rohit Sharma suffered a right leg muscle spasm yesterday during training. Rohit has recovered significantly in the past 24 hours. As a precautionary measure, Mumbai Indians management has decided to rest Rohit for one match, i.e. vs KXIP. Mumbai Indians will be led by Kieron Pollard today,” the statement read. Mayank and Mujeeb not playing While Rohit Sharma was the only exclusion from the MI’s team, the Kings XI Punjab made a couple of changes to their line-up. Mayank Agarwal sustained a finger injury and not playing Mujeeb Ur Rahman is one of their tactics which they’ve stuck to for the whole season so far. Karun Nair and Hardus Viljoen have replaced them. “We would have bowled first too but teams have defended well on this track. We have a forced change in our team, Mayank has not recovered from his finger injury so Karun Nair will replace him. And Hardus Viljoen also comes back in the team. He will replace Mujeeb. Spinners have struggled to bowl 8 overs on this pitch so we have added an extra seamer,” Ashwin said at the toss. [interaction id=”5cade8e2360ad8a72ba27a3b”]<doc-sep>
Rohit Sharma, who would have played 134 consecutive matches for Mumbai Indians if he had been a part of the ongoing IPL 2019 match between Kings XI Punjab and MI, has been rested by the team management to give him time to recover from a muscle spasm. With World Cup 2019 around the corner, the India opener's unavailability has raised concerns from many quarters but stand-in captain Kieron Pollard said at the toss that Rohit has been rested only as a precautionary measure. A Mumbai Indians statement on Wednesday said, "Rohit Sharma had suffered right leg muscle spasm yesterday during training. Rohit has recovered significantly in past 24 hours. As a precautionary measure, Mumbai Indians management has decided to rest Rohit for one match vs KXIP." "Rohit is fine but as a precautionary measure we have decided to give him as a rest," stand-in captain Kieron Pollard said. India's World Cup squad is set to be announced on 15 April. This is the first time since Rohit Sharma made his debut for Mumbai Indians in 2011 that he is not part of an IPL match for the Mumbai franchise. He has played 133 consecutive matches for them, one short of Suresh Raina's 134 consecutive matches for Chennai Super Kings between 2008 and 2018. Promoted Since 2013, Mumbai Indians have gone in with a captain other than Rohit only thrice. Kieron Pollard led the team in three matches in the 2014 Champions League, when Rohit had fractured his finger. This is also only the second time that Rohit has been rested for an IPL match. The last time he had sat out for an IPL match had been the last league game of the 2008 IPL season, when he played for Deccan Chargers.