A crowd roared “Rohit, Rohit” as Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya prepared for the toss. The chants echoed through Wankhede Stadium just before the coin flip. A video surfaced online, quickly spreading across social platforms
Fans were noticeably furious with MI when Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as captain, with the former returning after guiding the Gujarat Titans for two years. Thus, during home games, spectators booed Pandya loudly during the toss, and today was no exception.
Watch the clip here:
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. The home side remained unchanged. However, the Super Kings made one alteration, introducing pacer Matheesha Pathirana, replacing off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana.
Mumbai Indians (MI) pick up momentum after 3 consecutive losses
The Mumbai Indians team has become better in their latest two matches. Earlier they lost games three times in a row. The five times champions lost against the Gujarat Titans, SunRisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals teams.
But then, they beat Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teams very badly. Their game against RCB was really good. Jasprit Bumrah took five wickets. He did not let RCB score more than 196 runs for 3 wickets.
The batters crushed the target with ease, achieving it in merely 15.3 overs. Significant contributions came from Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya.
Suryakumar, who had faltered with a duck against the Capitals upon his injury comeback, unleashed a fiery 52 off 19 deliveries versus the Royal Challengers. His innings was adorned with five four and four sixes.
MI and CSK have a long-standing rivalry, having met in four finals. The former has the upper hand, having won three of them.