Why Is Naman Dhir Batting Ahead of Suryakumar Yadav vs GT?

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 has entered into that phase of the league where every team is being tested with all possible conditions and tactics. The five-time champions, Mumbai Indians have been struggling to get on track after a win the first match, which was also won by after long wait of 14 years.

Mumbai Indians are currently at the bottom of the table with only 2 points in it's bank with bad NRR, which doesn't go well with overall personality of the team. The team has been struggling a lot from injury scare in the camp to players not in their prime form. In the GT vs MI IPL 2026, the visitors handed over the cap to two new players, Danish Malewar and Krish Bhagat. While, there was another change seen in the lineup when MI was batting that Naman Dhir, lower order batter was batting at number 3 instead of Suryakumar Yadav.

Why Naman Dhir is Batting at No 3 vs GT?

The right hand batter, Naman Dhir, was given a promotion in the batting order against the Gujarat Titans, when he was sent at the Number 3 spot. The main reason behind why Naman Dhir is batting at No 3 vs GT is the form of the player from the last match, where he scored 50 runs in 31 balls against the Punjab Kings, when MI batting was on the verge of batting collapse. He has shown great intent in this season of IPL and thus sent to bat at number 3 position.

While, on the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav who is a regular batter of Mumbai Indians at the No 3 spot is struggling with his form for a while now, was demoted to number 4, where he also batted at that spot in one of the matches this season. However, the performance of SKY has not up to the mark, here are SKY's scores of this season till now:

Was Naman Dhir at No 3 Good Move?

Generally, Naman Dhir batting position in IPL is in the lower order, where he often comes to bat during the death overs as well. Considering the good form of Naman as well as lean patch of Suryakumar Yadav, it was a good move to send Naman Dhir at the top order as he has all skills to bat decently at the top order and take the innings long.

However, he batted well against GT and scored 45 runs and built a few partnerships and contributed. He has shown all the skills to become one of the best batsman in IPL in the future, with kind of performances he is giving in the middle.