Abu Dhabi: Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here Friday. Mumbai need to win by 171 runs or more to have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs.
After winning the toss, Sharma said that it was a no-brainer to bat first. He added that Krunal Pandya and Piyush Chawla are coming in for Saurabh Tiwary and Jayant Yadav in the playing eleven.
“The numbers are pretty scary, but we are going to give it our all. Let’s hope we can come out and do what we love to do. It’s important to enjoy the game as well. It’s been an on and off season for us. This is a great opportunity for us to do something that’s never been done before. Our batters haven’t come collectively and performed as a team in the UAE leg.”
Hyderabad is being captained by Manish Pandey, standing in for Kane Williamson (elbow niggle) in a last-minute call. He also said that Bhuvneshwar Kumar has a niggle too, with Mohammad Nabi coming into the playing eleven. “My first game as IPL captain. We would have batted first too. We will look to bowl first and look to give Bombay little chance. I know they are going to come all guns blazing but we are ready.”
Playing XIs
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy, Abhishek Sharma, Manish Pandey (captain), Priyam Garg, Jason Holder, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Siddharth Kaul and Umran Malik
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult