In the clash of former champions, Mumbai Indians (MI) are taking on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (April 16). However, MI suffered a big blow right ahead of the match started as their regular skipper Rohit Sharma missed out from MI's final XI due to stomach bug. In Rohit's absence Suryakumar Yadav was given the onus to lead the five-time champions in the all-important clash.
Meanwhile, MI team was seen sporting the women's team jersey when they entered the ground after Suryakumar won the toss and elected to field first.
The gesture from the men's team is to celebrate women in sports on the special ESA (Education and Sports for All) day, April 15, an initiative by the Reliance Foundation. On the special occasion of ESA day, the Mumbai Indians men's team led by Rohit Sharma will don a special kit that is similar to the kit that the MI women's team wore in the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL).
As part of this unique initiatiive 19000 young girls from 36 NGOs and 200 special children are in attendance at the Eden Garden's to cheer the Paltans in the clash against KKR.
"This special match is a celebration of women in sports. This year saw a landmark beginning for India's women cricketers with the first-ever Women's Premier League. To spotlight girls' right to education and sport, we are dedicating this year's ESA event to the girl child! Reliance Foundation is proud to bring over 19,000 young girls from different NGOs to enjoy the IPL match live in the stadium this Sunday," said Nita M. Ambani, Chairperson, Reliance Foundation.
In the recently-concluded Womens Premier League, Harmanpreet Singh-led MI women's clinched the inaugural edition's title after beating Delhi Capitals in the summit clash by seven wickets.
Meanwhile, talking about the KKR versus MI match, Arujun Tendulkar, son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, was handed the maiden IPL cap before the start of the high-octane clash. KKR went in with an unchanged playing XI.
Riding on Venkatesh Iyer's brilliant century, KKR posted a challenging 185/6 for MI to chase.
“We were going to bat first anyways. The mood in the dressing room is good, need to improve our bowling. We believe we can chase 200-210. The ball might turn in the second innings I think. One player can't win you a tournament, it's a team sport. It's good for us, that everyone is scoring runs. We'll target to score around 180 on this wicket, we are playing with the same team,” KKR Rana said after the toss.
“Will love to bowl first, the wicket looks dry. The ball comes on to the bat nicely later. Rohit is out, he has a stomach bug. Time to put up a good show. We are going with one change, Duan Jansen comes in, rest all is same,” MI's stand-in skipper Suryakumar said.
Mumbai Indians playing XI: Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Riley Meredith.
Kolkata Knight Riders playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy.
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