Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field first against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium in mumbai.
“We will play first. It looks like a good track. We played the first game on the other pitch, this looks similar. It’s always good to come second here. I think it’s a big game,” Pandya said.
Looking to bounce back from two consecutive defeats, Mumbai made two changes to their team, bringing in spinners Mayank Markande and Mitchell Santner.
“Over the years at the Wankhede, chasing has worked for many teams. Being our home ground, the dew also comes later. So it’s good to know what you’re chasing, you can plan your innings accordingly. Mayank Markande and Mitchell Santner come in for Chahar and Ghazanfar,” Pandya added.
RCB captain Rajat Patidar said his team wanted to chase as well, but added that it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“Obviously we would have batted first. But as you all know, it’s a good batting track. The ball comes on the bat nicely with a good bounce. So honestly, it won’t make much of a difference. We’ll try to put a good total on the board and keep them under pressure,” Patidar said.
RCB, coming off a loss, also made some changes, adding Jacob Duffy and dropping Abhinandan Singh.
“Every time we come, we see huge crowds. It’s challenging but at the same time, fun and exciting. Just one difference, Duffy comes instead of Hazlewood,” said Patidar.
RCB Playing 11: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma(w), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma
RCB Impact Subs: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh Yadav
MI playing 11: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah
Subjects of MI Impact: Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa
