The 11^th edition of the Indian Premier League has kicked off with the most successful team of the tournament locking horns with comeback team Chennai Super Kings. Mahendra Singh Dhoni again walked out for the coin toss with Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma. The captain of the yellow brigade won the toss and put the hosts in.

It was the skipper who walked out to open the innings with Even Lewis. It is not a familiar sight, especially in the IPL. Rohit has opened the innings in only a handful of matches. He looked out of touch from the very beginning. Sharma ended up missing the first two deliveries of the bowling of Deepak Chahar.

The youngster bowled well and troubled the Mumbai Indians skipper all through the 1^st over. After missing the first three deliveries Sharma struck a gorgeous uppish cover drive through the cover regions. Despite being in the air it was a convincing shot. He looked out of sorts even in the next over of the bowling of Shane Watson.

However, he struck the 4^th delivery of the over for a gorgeous six over the cover region. It was the same bowler who ended the dodgy innings from the captain. He went for a wild slog through the on side but mistimed it straight up in the air. Ambati Rayudu eventually held on to a tough catch. It wasn’t a convincing catch but he did hold on to it.

Mumbai Indians made a terrific towards the conclusion of the innings as Krunal Pandya smashed a quickfire 41 of 22 deliveries. Suryakumar Yadav also played a grem of an innings appearing for the 1^st time in Mumbai colours. He made a well-composed 43 of 29 deliveries which included some brillian shots.

The younger of the Pandya brother found it difficult to get going. He couldn’t quite get the big shots going and it was his elder brother who held fort towards the end of the innings. What seems more worrying than the innings is Hardik’s injury which he suffered on the last delivery of the innings. He got hit on the feet by Bravo in the last over and while running on the last delivery he jammed his left foot on the ground which got stock and ended up as a horrific injury for Hardik.

The significance of the injury is still no clear and it will be known only after a while whether he will be able to take part in the rest of the tournament.

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