DJ Bravo not playing: The runners-up haven’t included their veteran all-rounder for the first match of IPL 2020 in Abu Dhabi.
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During the first match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to field.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians, who last won their first match of an IPL season in 2011, would be keen to start on a winning note this year.
“Had some quality practice out here in Abu Dhabi. The key here will be to understand conditions and play according to them. So everything was based around that, all in all good preparations,” MI captain Rohit Sharma said during the toss.
As far as Indians’ playing XI is concerned, they have included veteran batsman Saurabh Tiwary in place of Ishan Kishan to hand their fans with a surprise first up. In the bowling department, Mumbai have handed debuts to two overseas pacers in Trent Boult and James Pattinson.
Why is DJ Bravo not playing today’s match vs MI?
Dhoni, who is playing his first competitive match after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, joked about social distancing during the toss.
“I was just asking the match referee if can we keep first slip or does that come under rules of social distancing norms [laughs],” Dhoni said during the toss.
Playing without regular vice-captain Suresh Raina, Super Kings have included both Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis to bolster their batting lineup. Their other two overseas are all-rounder Sam Curran and fast bowler Lungi Ngidi.
The development means that CSK have left out their veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo for the first match. While Dhoni wasn’t asked about the same during the toss, there are reports of Bravo missing this match due to a slight niggle. Most recently, Bravo had also skipped bowling due to an injury in some matches of the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League.
In 133 T20s for Super Kings, Bravo has picked 147 wickets at an average of 24.61, an economy rate of 8.40 and a strike rate of 17.59. Bravo’s 1,483 runs for CSK have come at an average and strike rate of 23.17 and 129.29 respectively.
