Hardik Pandya will goal to construct on the wealthy legacy of his predecessor Rohit Sharma when he begins his Mumbai Indians captaincy stint with a match against Gujarat Titans, a staff that the star all-rounder himself marshalled over final two seasons, within the IPL in Ahmedabad on March 24.
Such are the skilled methods of IPL that Pandya, having led Titans to the title and runners-up end within the earlier two seasons, has gone to again to the Mumbai Indians the place he made a reputation for himself.
The event additionally marks Pandya’s comeback from a ‘freak’ ankle damage he picked up in the midst of the ODI World Cup in October.
The type of the injury-prone all-rounder with each bat and ball might be carefully tracked within the event that precedes the T20 World Cup within the USA and Caribbean. With Pandya transferring on to the opposite facet, Titans might be led by Shubman Gill, who assumes the accountability with little or no captaincy expertise.
Mumbai have been grappling with health points to their key gamers together with star batter Suryakumar Yadav, who’s but to get health clearance from NCA.
Left-arm pacers Jason Behrendorff and Dilshan Madushanka are already dominated out of the IPL whereas new recruit Gerald Coetzee, nursing a groin damage, may not be out there for the primary few video games.
Having led Mumbai to as many as 5 IPL titles, India skipper Rohit might be turning up as a participant this season and can be anticipated to hit high kind forward of the ICC occasion in June.
Another participant whose efficiency might be scrutinised is Ishan Kishan, who can have a degree to show after shedding his BCCI central contract for defying the Board’s diktat on home cricket.
The southpaw, who missed your entire Test sequence against England, most popular to coach on his personal for the IPL and didn’t flip for his state facet Jharkhand within the Ranji Trophy. The combat for the wicket-keeper batter’s slot within the World Cup squad might be intense and Kishan must be on the high of his sport over the following two months.
Besides Pandya, Mohammad Nabi and Romario Shepherd are the opposite high quality all-round choices Mumbai possess.
Domestic gamers like Akash Madhwal and Nehal Wadhera might be trying to construct on their performances of the earlier season.
On the Titans’ entrance, Gill has been tasked to make sure that the staff maintains the exceptional consistency it confirmed in its first two seasons. Gill may very well be one of many future leaders for India however for that to occur, he should show himself on the IPL stage.
He was the main run-getter final season and the franchise can be hoping that captaincy does not influence his batting in anyway.
Titans are sure to overlook the companies of Mohammed Shami, who just lately underwent a surgical procedure to restore Achillies tendon and might be again solely within the second half of the yr.
The return of trump card Rashid Khan from a again surgical procedure is a large increase for Titans. The Afghanistan spinner made his comeback within the sequence against Ireland final week.
Among the brand new joinees, left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson and Azmatullah Omarazai, might be trying to make a mark on the planet’s largest T20 league.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan, Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood, Suryakumar Yadav.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Spencer Johnson, Kartik Tyagi, Josh Little, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Sushant Mishra, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Wriddhiman Saha, Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan, M Shahrukh Khan, Vijay Shankar, BR Sharath, Mohit Sharma, Manav Suthar, Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade, Kane Williamson, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav.
Match begins 7.30 PM IST.
