Is Hardik Pandya playing today? MI all-rounder under fire as Rohit Sharma mulls changes

Reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will square off against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 24 of IPL 2021 on Thursday, April 29 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The MI vs RR live match will commence at 3:30 PM IST. The defending champions have had a disastrous start to the IPL 2021 season as they have only managed to win two of their five matches. The MI's middle order is under quite a bit of pressure as a result, thereby raising the question: 'Is Hardik Pandya playing today?'

Is Hardik Pandya playing today? Hardik Pandya IPL 2021 disastrous start casts doubts over team selection

The Rohit Sharma-led side has been struggling with the inconsistent form of the middle order this season with the biggest worrying being Hardik Pandya's form. Coming on the back of two consecutive defeats, Rohit Sharma and the team selectors will have to make a difficult call as to whether Pandya will play on Thursday. Over the seasons, Pandya has played a major role in MI's successes, but this season he has just not found his scoring touch and is becoming more of a liability instead.

The Hardik Pandya IPL 2021 campaign began against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in which the allrounder scored 13 runs off 10 deliveries before being dismissed by Harshal Patel. The 27-year-old's performance in the next match against the Kolkata Knight Riders was even worse as he managed 15 runs off 17 balls at a strike rate lower than 100 in a T20 match. Such disastrous performances continued in the next few matches.

Pandya scored seven runs off five deliveries against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, a golden duck against the Delhi Capitals and just one run off four balls against the Punjab Kings. As a result, Pandya's performances have come under severe scrutiny. Moreover, with the MI all-rounder not being used as the sixth bowling option, Rohit Sharma may drop him from Thursday's MI matchday squad. MI will not find it difficult to replace Pandya considering the destructive middle-order they boast as he could easily be replaced by James Neesham for example.

MI vs RR live streaming details

For the MI vs RR live telecast in India, fans can tune into the Star Sports Network. For the MI vs RR live scores, one can visit the official IPL website and the social media pages of the two teams. Meanwhile, fans can also access the MI vs RR live streaming on the Disney+ Hotstar app.