In match no 2 of IPL, the Mumbai Indians have won the toss against the Kolkata Knight Riders and elected to bowl first. The match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Hardik Pandya confirmed that Jasprit Bumrah is back in the team. Shardul Thakur, Allah Ghazanfar and Sherfane Rutherford are set to make their debut for the hosts. Mitch Santner and Will Jacks are yet to join the MI camp.
Hardik Pandya said,”We are going to bowl. Looks like a good track, it appears greener than it used to. Let`s see how it plays. This is our fortress, the crowd is behind us and we`re looking to play a good game. We started a couple of weeks earlier, have plenty of experience and a mix of youth. Rohit, Surya, Mitchell Santner – so there`s no shortage of captains; I`m just excited to go out there and perform. We`re going with 6 bowlers and 5 batters.”
Ajinkya Rahane confirmed KKR`s four overseas players for the match. Finn Allen, Green, Narine, and Blessing Muzarabani are in the team for the big match against the 5-time champions. The KKR skipper said that they were looking to bowl first too.
Rahane said,”We were looking to bowl, never seen this amount of grass at Wankhede. Preparations have been good, couple of camps in Kolkata and in Mumbai as well. Know that MI is a champion team and we`re looking forward to be playing against them. Just stay at the moment and don`t look at the past. A couple of injuries – we`re going with 6 batters and 5 bowlers. Four overseas players – Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Sunil Narine and Blessing Muzarabani.”
Historically, this has been one of the most one-sided rivalries in IPL history, though KKR has closed the gap in recent years. In 34 matches, the Mumbai Indians have won 23 matches, while the KKR have won 11 games. At the Wankhede Stadium, MI holds a stranglehold, having won 10 out of the 11 encounters. However, the Mumbai Indians have not won the first game of the season since 2013.
Confirmed Team News:
Mumbai Indians XI: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickleton, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, Allah Ghazanfar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah
KKR XI: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora and Blessing Muzarabani
