Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. Pandya made one change to the side by including ‘Junior Rabada’ aka 17-year-old Kwena Maphaka in place of England left-arm pacer Luke Wood.
“We are going to bowl first. Looks like a good track, we were solid in the last game. Didn't plan properly, that cost us the game. 13 games to go, we need to keep doing the right things. We are positive and looking forward to the challenge. Just trying to spend time with all the players. Getting to know them better. One change, Luke misses out, Maphaka comes in,” Hardik said as he got booed by the Hyderabad crowd.
England's left-arm pacer on his IPL debut went for 25 runs in the two overs he bowled. His replacement, Maphaka had a sensation Under-19 Men's ODI World Cup 2024. He picked up a record-breaking three five-wicket hauls.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins made one forced change as T Natarajan suffered a niggle. He included Jaydev Unadkat in the side. Cummins also dropped South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen to include his World Cup-winner Travis Head in the side.
“Looks like a good wicket. Not too upset. It's a tough tournament, the crowd and conditions will help. A couple of changes. Head comes in for Jansen. Natarajan has a niggle, Unadkat comes in. We got a great squad, the 11 or 12 players playing tonight got to give their everything,” he said at the coin toss.
Head will be playing his first IPL game after 2017. In two seasons, he scored 205 runs from 10 games at an average of 29.29 including an unbeaten 75. Natarajan's absence is a big blow for SRH as he picked up three wickets against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a high-scoring encounter at Eden Gardens.
SRH Playing XI: Travis Head, Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat
MI Playing XI: Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka
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