Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. Iyer made two changes to the side. Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins replaced New Zealand speedster Tim Southee whereas Rasikh Salam came in for Shivam Mavi.
Salam made his IPL debut in 2019 for MI. He remained wicketless and conceded 42 runs from four overs. He scored five runs from four deliveries.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma made a couple of changes to the side as well. Suryakumar Yadav made a comeback from injury whereas South Africa's Under-19 player Dewald Brevis aka ‘Baby AB’ gets his IPL debut cap.
MI XI: Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Dewald Brevis, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi
KKR XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Sam Billings(w), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Rasikh Salam, Varun Chakaravarthy
“We are gonna bowl first. We are comfortable chasing with a set target in mind. All the teams are equally good and we always have to take that winning mindset and try and back your abilities. We got two changes. Pat Cummins comes in place of Southee and Rasikh Salam comes in for Shivam Mavi. Southee was very supportive and we had a good conversation about the team changes,” Iyer said after winning the toss.
“We were looking to bat first. We are not looking at what happened in the last 2 games, we have to play good cricket to win games and that is what we are prepared for. Looks like a good pitch. We have done well in patches and when you want to win games you gotta perform collectively and I think that is something that was missing in the last 2 games. Couple of changes. Surykumar Yadav comes in place of Anmolpreet Singh and we got Dewald Brevis who comes in for Tim David,” Rohit said before the game.
“Feeling good, it's been about 10 days since we finished our last (Test) match, have joined the boys a few days back and pumped to be back here. I'm happy to play my role anywhere in the team, hopefully I can add something to the best of my ability. Ity depends on the sample size, it helps playing against certain people, like having played a lot against Rohit Sharma, it helps at times, but it doesn't mean you'll succeed every time (on match-ups). I'm here if he needs me, but he has some great people around him, I have been with him a few years ago, so I can help him in any way I can,” Pat Cummins said before the coin toss.
