Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) Talismanic opener Rohit Sharma is likely to miss the next couple of matches as the Mumbai Indians attempt to haul themselves back on the rails after suffering three successive defeats in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

That Rohit was not fully fit after suffering an injury to his right hamstring in the match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 12 was confirmed on Thursday, just before the start of MI's match with Punjab Kings.

At the toss, skipper Hardik Pandya confirmed that Rohit Sharma will miss the next couple of matches at least.

"Rohit misses out; he'll take a couple of games to see where he is," said Pandya at the toss, indicating that Rohit has maybe not fully recovered from the injury and MI would not take a risk by rushing him into the middle.

Rohit had suffered an injury to his right hamstring during the match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the same venue on April 12 and retired hurt after scoring 19 runs. He reportedly underwent scans and had light training and batting practice on the eve of the Mumbai Indians' match against the Punjab Kings.

On Wednesday, the franchise informed that Rohit was still under "assessment" by the medical staff and team management. Rohit missed the practice session on Tuesday and made a brief appearance towards the end of their pre-match training session. He had his right leg strapped and did some short sprints and batted in the nets for some time just before the session ended.

On Thursday, the 38-year-old winner of six IPL titles did not come out for the pre-match warmup routine with other members of the squad and only came out just before the toss, and that too in his joggers, confirming that he would not take the field.

His absence proved a blessing in disguise as Quinton de Kock made it to the playing XI and scored a half-century to help the team recover from a poor start against the Punjab Kings.

--IANS

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