Toss Mumbai Indians opt to bowl v Delhi Capitals
Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captain, won the toss and elected to field against the rebranded Delhi franchise – now Delhi Capitals – led by another Mumbai boy, Shreyas Iyer in the third game of the IPL 2019 season.
Mumbai left out promising young wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan, fresh off two centuries in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, to slot in Quinton de Kock alongside Rohit Sharma at the top.
A big pick in the Mumbai XI was that of Yuvraj Singh, now playing for his sixth IPL franchise after stints with Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Hardik Pandya‘s inclusion in Mumbai’s XI was an encouraging sign, given he missed the recently-concluded home series against Australia to manage a back injury.
Mumbai also handed a debut to 17-year-old medium pacer Rasikh Salam, only the third Jammu & Kashmir cricketer to feature in the IPL after Parvez Rasool and Manzoor Dar. Salam is part of a three-pronged pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell McClenaghan.
Capitals, meanwhile, went in with a strong Indian top four, but with a batting line-up that thins considerably after Colin Ingram, who brings in the vast experience of 226 T20s. Axar Patel has been slotted to bat at No. 6. They left out both their legspinners Amit Mishra and Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane, instead preferring Rahul Tewatia.
Shikhar Dhawan has also made a comeback for the franchise he started out with 11 years ago.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rasikh Salam, Jasprit Bumrah.
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rishabh Pant (wk), Colin Ingram, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma.