Toss Mumbai Indians chose to bat vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and surprisingly elected to bat in a crucial group game against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai. The last time an IPL captain had chosen to bat first at the Wankhede was back in April 2023. The team winning the toss here had bowled first in 21 straight IPL games since then.
Hardik said it was a “breezy, slightly cold evening than usual” and did not expect dew to play a big role, explaining his decision to bat. MI made a number of changes to their side. Rohit Sharma is still not fit, with Hardik suggesting that the former captain will “take a couple of more games” to fully recover from his hamstring issue. Quinton de Kock also misses out with a wrist injury, while Mitchell Santner has been ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury.
In came Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks, with the two slated to open the batting according to the team sheet. Robin Minz also plays his first game of the season, while Trent Boult came back into MI’s batting first XI. Shardul Thakur or Krish Bhagat could come in as the Impact Player.
SRH captain Pat Cummins said he was looking to bowl on a surface he expected to be tacky. They have opted for the finger-spin of Harsh Dubey over the wrist-spin of Shivang Kumar, which might have to do with the possibility of dew. Aniket Verma could come in as the Impact Player.
SRH are coming into the game having won four straight matches. They are currently fourth on the points table with ten points, and a win here will push them further up. MI have, meanwhile, struggled. They are ninth on the points table, having won just two out of their seven games. More worryingly, they have lost three out of four games at their home ground, including a record 103-run loss against Chennai Super Kings.
Mumbai Indians: 1 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 2 Will Jacks, 3 Naman Dhir, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Robin Minz, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Ashwani Kumar.
Bench: Mayank Rawat, Raghu Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Krish Bhagat, Raj Bawa.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Henrich Klaasen, 5 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 6 Salil Arora, 7 Pat Cummins (capt), 8 Harsh Dubey, 9 Eshan Malinga, 10 Praful Hinge, 11 Sakib Hussain.
Bench: R Smaran, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel.
