IPL 2017: Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh Return As Mumbai Indians Bowl First, Ankit Rajpoot In For Piyush Chawla
Dec 23, 2018 at 11:10 AM
In the first game of the season at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the home side won the toss and decided to bowl first. Lasith Malinga, who missed the first game for the two-time champions was added to the squad in place of Tim Southee, whereas, Harbhajan Singh too made a comeback to the side in place of injured Ambati Rayudu.
On the other hand, Gautam Gambhir too made a change to his side, as fast bowler Ankit Rajpoot replaced his statemate, Piyush Chawla.
Oodles of runs are expected on this ground keeping in mind the track, which is known to be in support of batsmen.
Both the teams had contrasting results in their last game, as Mumbai Indians lost a nail-biting encounter against Rising Pune Supergiant, whereas, Kolkata Knight Riders dominated Gujarat Lions in their previous game.
Here is what captains said at the time of the toss –
Gautam Gambhir:
“We would have bowled first as well. Obviously, this is a good chasing ground and we would look to put up a good score on the board. We went spin heavy because of their combination and we wanted to go hard at Brendon and Roy. Just the one change for us, Ankit comes in place of Piyush. A hard call especially when he has done well for us but this is a tactical move.”
Rohit Sharma:
“We are going to let KKR bat. The start wasn’t great but we’ve got guys in the squad who could pull things up when it gets tough. It was just a couple of errors I would say in the last game that cost us. Lasith Malinga is back replacing Tim Southee and Ambati misses out enabling Bhajju pa (Harbhajan) to come back in.”
Here is the playing XI of both sides –
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Parthiv Patel(w), Jos Buttler, Rohit Sharma(c), Nitish Rana, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir(c), Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa(w), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Trent Boult, Ankit Rajpoot.