Hardik Pandya won the crucial toss and Mumbai Indians elected to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 25th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on Thursday. Mumbai dropped the veteran spinner Piyush Chawla while the visiting side handed IPL debut to English all-rounder Will Jacks.
RCB also included Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror and Vijaykumar Vyshak in their playing eleven while MI replaced Chawla with Shreyas Gopal. Suryakumar Yadav is of the impact substitutes for Mumbai Indians and is likely to come to bat in the second innings.
"Similar track but in the evening might be better to bat on," Hardik said after winning the toss. "There was dew last couple of days. (Mood after win?) Mood before and after the win has been the same. We play every game with a fresh start. Want to put early pressure with the new ball. (Team effort last time) I heard it was the highest score without anyone scoring fifty, gives confidence to us that even one guy batting long we can score 234. At the same time, bowlers held their nerve in the powerplay well. (Prefer chasing here?) It has been a chasing ground and looking at the tradition. Shreyas comes in for Piyush Chawla."
For RCB, Cameron Green made the way for Will Jacks while Akash Deep came in the place of Yash Dayal. English pacer Reece Topley starts ahead of Alzarri Joseph and Lockie Ferguson once again.
"We've tried to change a few things around," Faf du Plessis said. "Our plan today is to bring a few fresh faces and give them chances. We want to make as few changes as possible but when you reach yourself in this position where you don't play your best cricket, then you have to make a brave decision. The sixth game is the right time to do that. Virat has been excellent with consistency, but that's what is frustrating, we can't look at the opposition and say they've outplayed us. We've not done as well. But with T20 cricket, we are close to turning it around. Mumbai got that in their last game and we are looking to do the same. Three changes: Jacks comes in at No. 3. Mahipal is back. And Vyshak too."
MI Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal.
RCB Playing XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
Mumbai Indians Impact Subs: Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Harvik Desai.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Suyash Prabhudessai, Saurav Chauhan, Swapnil Singh, Rajan Kumar, Karn Sharma.
