{"id":29451,"date":"2026-05-02T16:55:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=29451"},"modified":"2026-05-02T16:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:55:36","slug":"ipl-2026-who-is-raghu-sharma-mis-surprise-pick-in-high-stakes-clash-vs-csk-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=29451","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026: Who is Raghu Sharma? MI\u2019s surprise pick in high-stakes clash vs CSK | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-articlebody=\"1\">\n<div class=\"ihgno clearfix  \">\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Guwahati: Mumbai Indians' Raghu Sharma, right (PTI Photo)\">Guwahati: Mumbai Indians&#8217; Raghu Sharma, right (PTI Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Punjab cricketer Raghu Sharma found himself in the spotlight during the high-profile IPL clash between <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/mumbai-indians\" class=\"\">Mumbai Indians<\/a> and Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 2. While he did not start in the XI, MI captain Hardik Pandya confirmed at the toss that the 33-year-old leg-spinner would feature as an Impact Player in the second innings.<!-- --> Earlier, Sharma was handed his maiden IPL cap, marking a significant moment in his long domestic journey.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"5\" \/>Mumbai Indians made another change to their lineup, bringing in Krish Bhagat in place of Ashwani Kumar. Struggling this season with just two wins from eight matches, MI entered the contest placed ninth on the table with four points and a net run rate of -0.784. The fixture also carried added motivation, with MI looking to respond after a heavy 103-run defeat to CSK earlier in the tournament.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"9\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"wLCOS vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"ap_Bf\">\n<div class=\"ZM4zO\"> <i class=\"bo2C4\" \/> <span>Watch<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <!-- -->Shikhar Dhawan on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, life after retirement and more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\" \/>Sharma\u2019s rise has been built on persistence. Born in Jalandhar, the leg-break bowler has represented Punjab and Puducherry in domestic cricket. Since making his first-class debut in the 2017\u201318 Ranji Trophy, he has picked up 57 wickets in 12 matches, including five five-wicket hauls and three ten-wicket hauls.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\" \/>He further impressed in the 2024\u201325 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 14 wickets in eight matches. In T20s, he has taken four wickets in four games at an economy rate of eight since debuting in 2021. His association with MI began as a net bowler before being signed as a mid-season replacement in 2025, with the franchise retaining him as part of their long-term plans.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\" \/>At the toss, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/player-profile\/hardik-pandya\/63751\" class=\"\">Hardik Pandya<\/a> opted to bat first. For CSK, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/ruturaj-gaikwad\" class=\"\">Ruturaj Gaikwad<\/a> made two changes, bringing in Ramakrishna Ghosh for Gurjapneet Singh and Prashant Veer in place of Akeal Hosein.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/ipl-2026\/ipl-2026-who-is-raghu-sharma-mis-surprise-pick-in-high-stakes-clash-vs-csk\/articleshow\/130718518.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guwahati: Mumbai Indians&#8217; Raghu Sharma, right (PTI Photo) Punjab cricketer Raghu Sharma found himself in the spotlight during the high-profile IPL clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 2. While he did not start in the XI, MI captain Hardik Pandya confirmed at the toss that the &#8230; <a title=\"IPL 2026: Who is Raghu Sharma? MI\u2019s surprise pick in high-stakes clash vs CSK | Cricket News\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=29451\" aria-label=\"Read more about IPL 2026: Who is Raghu Sharma? MI\u2019s surprise pick in high-stakes clash vs CSK | Cricket News\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IPL-2026-Who-is-Raghu-Sharma-MIs-surprise-pick-in.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29453,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29451\/revisions\/29453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}