{"id":6993,"date":"2026-05-02T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1win.za.com\/ipl\/raghu-sharma-debuts-as-impact-player-as-mi-take-on-csk-in-ipl-2026"},"modified":"2026-05-02T14:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T14:52:00","slug":"raghu-sharma-debuts-as-impact-player-as-mi-take-on-csk-in-ipl-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1win.za.com\/ipl\/raghu-sharma-debuts-as-impact-player-as-mi-take-on-csk-in-ipl-2026","title":{"rendered":"Raghu Sharma Debuts as Impact Player as MI Take on CSK in IPL 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Punjab\u2019s Raghu Sharma became a talking point during the IPL clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 2. Although he wasn\u2019t named in the starting XI, MI captain Hardik Pandya confirmed at the toss that the 33-year-old leg-spinner would be used as an Impact Player in the second innings. The appearance also marked a milestone for Sharma, who received his maiden IPL cap earlier in the build-up, underlining how long his domestic grind has been.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Hardik Pandya confirmed Raghu Sharma would come in as an Impact Player for Mumbai\u2019s second-innings bowling.<\/li>\n<li>Raghu earned his first IPL cap as he prepared to feature in the high-profile May 2 match at Chepauk.<\/li>\n<li>Mumbai made a team reshuffle, replacing Ashwani Kumar with Krish Bhagat in the XI.<\/li>\n<li>MI arrived at the game ninth in the standings with four points and a net run rate of -0.784 after two wins in eight matches.<\/li>\n<li>Chennai made two alterations at the toss, with Ramakrishna Ghosh and Prashant Veer coming in for Gurjapneet Singh and Akeal Hosein.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Mumbai\u2019s context and selection calls<\/h2>\n<p>Struggling for consistency this season, Mumbai Indians entered the contest with a record of just two victories from eight outings, leaving them placed ninth on four points and with a net run rate of -0.784. The match also carried extra urgency for MI, who were keen to bounce back after suffering a heavy 103-run loss to CSK earlier in the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Sharma\u2019s pathway to the IPL spotlight has been shaped by persistence. Born in Jalandhar, he has played domestic cricket for Punjab and Puducherry. His first-class journey began with his debut in the 2017\u201318 Ranji Trophy, and since then he has collected 57 wickets across 12 matches, including five five-wicket hauls and three ten-wicket hauls.<\/p>\n<p>He continued to build momentum in one-day cricket as well, impressing in the 2024\u201325 Vijay Hazare Trophy where he finished with 14 wickets in eight matches. In T20s, his numbers have also remained steady: after making his debut in 2021, he has taken four wickets in four games at an economy rate of eight.<\/p>\n<p>Sharma\u2019s connection with Mumbai Indians started in the nets, before the franchise signed him as a mid-season replacement in 2025. Mumbai then continued to plan around him by retaining him as part of their longer-term setup.<\/p>\n<h2>Team news at the toss<\/h2>\n<p>At the toss, Hardik Pandya chose to bat first. For Chennai Super Kings, Ruturaj Gaikwad oversaw two changes to the playing group, bringing in Ramakrishna Ghosh for Gurjapneet Singh and Prashant Veer for Akeal Hosein.<\/p>\n<p>Mumbai\u2019s XI also saw one swap: Krish Bhagat came into the lineup in place of Ashwani Kumar. With Sharma confirmed for the second-innings Impact Player role, it set up a notable moment for the leg-spinner as he prepared to make his IPL contribution at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Punjab\u2019s Raghu Sharma became a talking point during the IPL clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Impact Player Raghu Sharma Debuts as MI vs CSK IPL 2026","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"MI vs CSK IPL 2026: Raghu Sharma makes his Impact Player debut, confirmed by Hardik Pandya at the toss in a thrilling MA Chidambaram clash.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Impact Player Raghu Sharma Debuts as MI vs CSK IPL 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MI vs CSK IPL 2026: Raghu Sharma makes his Impact Player debut, confirmed by Hardik Pandya at the toss in a thrilling MA Chidambaram clash.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/1win.za.com\/ipl\/raghu-sharma-debuts-as-impact-player-as-mi-take-on-csk-in-ipl-2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Impact Player Raghu Sharma Debuts as MI vs 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