Ashwani Kumar will not be featuring for Mumbai Indians in Match 20 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, April 7. MI are coming into this fixture following a 12-run defeat against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday, April 4 in Lucknow.
The 23-year-old left-arm medium pacer has played a couple of games for the joint-most successful franchise this season. His debut game was at the Wankhede Stadium itself. The youngster secured an impressive four-wicket haul.
Ashwani made way for Jasprit Bumrah, with the ace pace-bowling spearhead finally returning to competitive cricket after sustaining a stress injury in his back during the final Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. As for RCB, they did not make any changes to their lineup. They too are coming into the game on the back of a loss, against Gujarat Titans.
Toss Update
MI won the toss and opted to field first. Hardik reasoned he felt dew might set in later in the game. He also revealed that both Bumrah and Rohit Sharma were back into the mix, and expressed optimism while playing at the Wankhede in terms of the home advantage.
Ashwani makes way for Bumrah
Someone had to make way for the returning Bumrah and that was Ashwani. Bumrah has been a proven match-winner for the hosts since an extended period now. There had already been immense buzz surrounding the right-armer going into this contest due to there being several reports of him making his way back into the side. Due to the severity of Bumrah’s injury, he had to miss out on the recently-concluded Champions Trophy.
What did the captains say?
Hardik Pandya (MI)
We are gonna bowl first. This looks like a good track, dew might come in later. When the wicket is cool, it stays good. When dew comes, it gets better. It always plays well for both teams. It’s time for us to get some rhythm, get some good cricket behind us, take the smarter options and do the right things. We are playing good cricket, but it’s just that at certain moments, we are missing out on certain things. If we can look after those, we’ll be able to get the rhythm. Mumbai has been always supporting us. We have made sure that this is our fortress and we kinda defend it. Playing at home makes it different. The crowd is behind you and you are aware of the conditions. Jassie (Bumrah) is back and so is Ro (Rohit). Both of our experienced campaigners are back in the side, that gives us an added fuel.
Rajat Patidar (RCB)
Of course (would have chased), but it’ll not make too much of a difference. Surface looks hard and good to bat on. It’s a typical Mumbai wicket, it will be good for batters. For us, it’s not important to look at the points table. It’s important to play good cricket, looking forward to it. It’s very difficult to bowl at this venue, but I am pretty confident about the bowling unit that we have. We have played a lot of cricket at every venue in India. It’s pretty clear at what venue what we have to do. We are playing with the same team.
Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians
Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Vignesh Puthur
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal
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