NEW DELHI: Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, backing the venue’s chasing trend in what promises to be a high-scoring contest.“We’re going to bowl first. Looks like a good track. We played the first game on the other pitch, this looks similar. It’s always good to bat second here. I think it’s a big game. Just want to come out and play our best cricket, do the things we’ve spoken about in the meetings, and just enjoy the sport. We requested good wickets and we’ve been getting them,” Hardik said at the toss, confirming that Mayank Markande and Mitchell Santner replace Deepak Chahar and Allah Ghazanfar.
“As long as you land the ball right as a bowler and play the right shots as a batter, you’re in the game. Over the years at Wankhede, chasing has worked for a lot of teams. Being our home ground, dew comes in later as well. So it’s good to know what you’re chasing, you can plan your innings accordingly.”The pitch is expected to favour batters, with short square boundaries (67m and 61m) and a 74m straight hit encouraging big scoring, though early seam movement could make the powerplay decisive. Experts reckon a 200-plus total is par, while 220 batting first could offer an 80 percent chance of victory.RCB skipper Rajat Patidar confirmed the inclusion of Jacob Duffy for Sunday’s fixture. “Obviously would have bowled first. But as you all know, it’s a good batting track. The ball comes nicely onto the bat with good bounce. So honestly, it won’t make too much difference. We’ll try to put a good total on the board and keep them under pressure. This is our fourth game. The way we’ve played the last few matches, there are a lot of positives,” he said.“In the last match, we were 97 for 6 and still managed to score over 200. That’s a positive sign for us. We enjoy it a lot here. Whenever we come, we see great crowds. It’s challenging, but at the same time, fun and exciting. Just one change, Duffy comes in place of Hazlewood.”With Rohit Sharma vs Virat Kohli headlining and both sides eager to bounce back, a blockbuster contest is firmly on the cards.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma(w), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash SharmaRoyal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh YadavMumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Jasprit BumrahMumbai Indians Impact Subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa
