IPL 2025: Rohit starts on bench as Mumbai Indians elect to bowl first against SRH

Mumbai, April 17 (IANS) Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Both sides are coming into the match with wins in their respective matches and decided to go ahead with the same playing XIs as their previous matches.

Mumbai Indians decided to go with former captain Rohit Sharma starting among the impact substitutes.

Hardik Pandya said the decision was because of the possibility of the dew playing a role later in the match.

"Very excited, the way the last couple of days have gone," he said, adding that they are backing all their batters. "Bumrah is fine, we don't have to worry about him. If he wasn't 100%, he wouldn't be here."

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins said it looks like a good wicket and wasn't too worried about losing the toss. Same side for SRH too. "Sometimes it's good to reset, sometimes it is good to keep going," he said about the five-day gap between their games.

The match is being played on the same pitch on which the Mumbai Indians bundled out Kolkata Knight Riders for 116 and then chased the target with 43 balls to spare. This was Mumbai Indians' only home win this season, and their fans will be hoping that the return to the same strip works again for them.

Both teams desperately want to win this match as they have both lost four matches each, and losing more matches will seriously hamper their chances of recovering and fighting for a playoff spot.

Playing XIs:

Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Karn Sharma

Impact Substitutes: Rohit Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins (capt), Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga

Impact Substitutes: Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder

--IANS

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