Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 29 : Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field first against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.
Both sides are heading into the match after losses in their campaign openers. While MI lost to arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their campaign opener, GT, led by Shubman Gill, sustained a loss to Shreyas Iyer-led new-look Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a high-scoring match at Ahmedabad. This match also marks the return of Hardik, who did not play in the first match owing to slow over-rate penalties in the previous season.
During the toss, skipper Hardik said during the toss, "We will bowl first. The simple reason is that we do not know how the pitch will play, plus the dew factor. Only last year we played on black soil, otherwise we have been playing on red soil. Last year, we had the game under wraps but could not finish it. The prep has been fantastic, the boys are excited and we back each other, be there for each other. Very happy stage. I come back, and the others we are keeping the options open. Always about playing good cricket, planning right and enjoying the game."
GT skipper Gill said during the toss, "Batted first plenty of times here, so nothing changes for us. It is all about assessing the conditions and seeing what target we can set, and if we are chasing, it is about how to get to that target. Plenty of positives from the last game, we just got slow in the middle and that post us, but still we managed to score about 200 runs in 14 overs. We have got the same team, might see one change with the impact sub. (On opening with Sai Sudharsan) We want to have a lefty-righty combination, and Jos (Buttler) has been playing at 3 for England, so nothing changes for him."
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Satyanarayana Raju
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.