Hardik Pandya won the toss on his Indian Premier League (IPL) captaincy debut and elected to bowl first at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The two new franchises Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have included a few debutants in their playing XI for the campaign opener including Sri Lanka's Dushmantha Chameera, domestic players Abhinav Manohar and Ayush Badoni.
“First game we want to see how exactly the wickets are playing and keeping the dew factor as well. We wanted to see, assess and go through from there. It is always special to play in Wankhede because I have had some amazing memories here. It is a different role, different team but the feeling is same,” Hardik said at the coin toss.
Playing XIs
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade(w), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan
“New start, new challenges and new team something that always brings me excited and I am looking forward to it. So happy to be back in India and some of the crowd is here as well. It's always good to have that cap (Purple), but more than that I will try and contribute whatever the team needs of me and if that is dot balls, Ill'd do that - that is something that I will have more in my mind. It has been long time since I had that cap. In my first year 2017 second game I had that cap and since then I never had that cap, but definitely will be a great feeling to have that,” vice-captain Rashid Khan told the broadcasters.
“There isn't much to talk about because everyone knows what we need to do in T20s. We have been playing continuously and have been in rhythm. It is a new season, a new franchise and hopefully a good result. Pandya is very different. He is getting responsible now. Earlier he used to be in his own mood, but now he is getting responsible and is talking to the players as well. Both teams are new and both of them would want to give more than 100%. But you need to prepare according to the wicket and the ground,” Mohammed Shami said before the game.
The first match played at Wankhede stadium helped the seamers with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fast bowler Umesh Yadav removing the two Chennai Super Kings (CSK) openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. CSK struggled to score and posted a below par total of 131/5.
