Gujarat Titans host Mumbai Indians in the 35th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday (April 25). It is a crucial game for both sides with the defending champions having a chance to climb to second place in table while MI have a decent opportunity to go on par with top four teams. However, the five-time champions are dealt with a blow ahead of the GT clash as Jofra Archer is not playing this game.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed the news at the toss with Riley Meredith replacing Archer in the encounter with their captain opting to bowl first. Hrithik Shokeen also misses out in this game with Kumar Kartikeya being preferred ahead of him. Rohit stated that Archer not being well as the reason for the latter not playing this encounter.
"We are gonna bowl first. We saw the pitch yesterday, it was hard. They put a lot of water there. Want to make best use of the conditions since we think there's going to be a bit of moisture. Start well early on and see where the game is heading. Games like that happen (loss against PBSK), we made some errors and we accepted that in the changing room. It's important how you come back from that situation and what you're going to plan for the next few games, that's quite critical.
"We had a good chat and hopefully we can turn things around. We've got 2 changes - Hrithik Shokeen misses out from the last game. Kumar Kartikeya is going to play. Jofra is not well. Riley Meredith is back," Rohit said.
As for Gujarat Titans, they are playing an unchanged side with Joshua Little coming in as an impact player mostly. "It (pitch) looks good, looks watery. It has been a belter though. The way we fought back, the last game we won but LSG dominated for 36 overs. Credit to the boys the way we came back. We showed what is never give up. Luck was on our side. We are playing the same team. Josh Little comes back for someone, that's it," Hardik said.
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Kumar Kartikeya, Arjun Tendulkar, Riley Meredith, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff
