Raghu Sharma Makes IPL Debut for MI Against CSK
raghu sharma made his Indian Premier League debut for Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The 33-year-old leg spinner stepped into a side that arrived ninth on the table with four points after two wins from eight matches.
Hardik Pandya handed Sharma his maiden IPL cap before the game. Mumbai Indians also brought in Krish Bhagat for Ashwani Kumar, and Sharma was included in the Impact Player list for the match.
Raghu Sharma and Hardik Pandya
Sharma’s first IPL outing came after a long route through domestic cricket. Born in 1993 in Jalandhar, Punjab, he is a right-arm leg-break bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter who represented Punjab and later Puducherry across formats.
He made his first-class debut in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season and has taken 57 wickets in 12 first-class matches, with five five-wicket hauls and three ten-wicket hauls. In the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy, he took 14 wickets in eight matches, and since his T20 debut in 2021 he has taken four wickets in four matches at an economy rate of eight.
Mumbai Indians in Chennai
Mumbai’s call to use Sharma came in a match that carried added weight after the side lost its previous meeting with Chennai Super Kings by 103 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. That earlier defeat left a clear gap in the season head-to-head, and the move to hand the 33-year-old his debut showed MI were willing to change personnel in the middle of a difficult run.
The addition also extended a longer Mumbai link. MI signed Sharma as a mid-season replacement for the injured Vignesh Puthur in 2025, and he had earlier been associated with the franchise as a net bowler. On May 2, that background turned into a place in the XI and a first cap in one of the league’s biggest fixtures.
Impact Player List
Sharma’s name on the Impact Player list gave Mumbai another leg-spin option in a match where every selection carried extra weight. For a team sitting ninth with four points, the debut was not a side note; it was part of the response to a season that has left little room for wasted spots.
