Hardik Pandya not playing: Mumbai Indians have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for today’s match against Delhi Capitals.
Advertisement
During the 51st match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians in Dubai, Mumbai Indians captain Kieron Pollard has won the toss and chose to field.
“We will field first. Not sure what this pitch will do, it’s better to chase down the target. We have been playing well with everyone chipping in, hopefully, it will continue. We need to go hard till the end, not want to get complacent,” Pollard told Star Sports during the toss.
On the other hand, Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer revealed that he wasn’t let down by losing the toss as he wanted to bat first. “We wanted to bat first as well. Previous results tell it’s better to bat first. Batting hasn’t been up to the mark, hopefully, it will do well today,” Iyer told Star Sports.
Why is Hardik Pandya not playing today’s match vs Delhi Capitals?
In a match where both the teams have made multiple changes, the biggest of them all has been made by Indians who have rested all-rounder Hardik Pandya in addition to pacer James Pattinson.
While Pollard wasn’t asked about the rationale behind the same, one expects the decision has been taken to test their best strength. All-rounder Jayant Yadav and pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile have been included into the XI for this match.
Yadav, who had played a couple of matches for Mumbai last season, will play his first one this season against his previous franchise. In 12 IPL matches, Yadav’s five wickets have come at an average of 49.20, an economy rate of 6.65 and a strike rate of 44.40.
As far as the changes for Capitals are concerned, opening batsman Ajinkya Rahane, all-rounder Axar Patel and pacer Tushar Deshpande have been replaced by opening batsman Prithvi Shaw, pacer Harshal Patel and debutant spinner Praveen Dubey.
Dubey, who has previously spent a couple of seasons with Royal Challengers Bangalore without playing a match, comes on the back of 16 wickets in 14 outings for Karnataka at an average of 19.12, an economy rate of 6.87 and a strike rate of 16.6.
