IPL 2025: Rohit Sharma on Bench as Mumbai Chooses to Bowl First Against KKR
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Synopsis
On March 31, Mumbai Indians opted to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2025, placing Rohit Sharma on the bench. Captain Hardik Pandya emphasized the need for early swing and better performance after losses in the initial matches.
Key Takeaways
- Rohit Sharma starts on the bench.
- Mumbai Indians elect to bowl first.
- Hardik Pandya highlights the need for improvement.
- Sunil Narine returns for KKR.
- Wankhede Stadium hosts Match 12.
Mumbai, March 31 (NationPress) Former captain Rohit Sharma found himself on the bench as Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 12 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
While Rohit was assigned to the role of Impact Substitute, Mumbai introduced Will Jacks and handed a debut to left-arm seamer Ashwani Kumar. Vignesh Puthur also secured a spot in the playing XI and is likely to make way for Rohit Sharma when MI starts their chase.
KKR, as anticipated, reinstated Sunil Narine into the playing XI in place of Moeen Ali, as Narine had missed their last match against the Rajasthan Royals due to illness.
Regarding the decision to field first, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya explained that they aimed to capitalize on the early swing from the wicket, anticipating dew to come into play later in the evening.
Pandya downplayed Mumbai's losses in their first two matches, emphasizing that it’s a long tournament. He expressed hope that their performance would improve tonight and stressed the need for better cricket to achieve that.
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane shared that he would have preferred to bowl first but felt it was a good toss to lose, confident that they possess a strong bowling attack to defend a total.
Playing XIs:
Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Vignesh Puthur.
Impact subs: Rohit Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Satyanarayana Raju
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy.
Impact subs: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia.
