IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya to lead Gujarat against former team Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Titans secured a terrific victory in their previous game as they defended a partly total of 135 against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) away from home on Saturday. Their batting effort left a lot to be desired a coordinated outing with the ball spearheaded by some fine leadership from Hardik Pandya helped them notch an unexpected victory. That win will fuel a lot of confidence in the side.

The Titans have been remarkable chasers since last year but certain lacunae in their setup are exposed when they are tasked to defend targets. They faltered big time against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when Rinku Singh pulled off that heist earlier this month.

Hence, the win in the last game will enable them with more confidence to get over the finishing line in the unlikely circumstance of them being asked to bat first. Not many changes are likely to be made in the Gujarat lineup. Mohit Sharma’s good form has added a lot of prowess to their death-bowling capabilities whereas Noor Ahmad has emerged as an exciting prospect recently. They will not want to tinker around much with a winning combination barring some tactical tweaks here and there.

Mumbai faced a crushing loss against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the previous encounter and they will be gunning to strike back and record their fourth win of the season soon. MI has more or less zeroed down upon their best XI for this season and Jofra Archer’s return will add a lot of zing to their bowling attack.

They will have to put up a better and less erratic performance with the ball as compared to what they did against Punjab. The batting did well enough to get as close to the target as possible and a similarly proactive approach can reap rich dividends in this game as well.

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmed

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Arjun Tendulkar

Impact Player: Nehal Wadhera

Hardik Pandya truly embarked on a new phase in his career ever since he left MI. He led the Titans to the IPL title in their maiden season last year and he has since assumed the captaincy of the Indian team on many an occasion as well. However, it was at MI that Pandya’s talent was first unearthed and he will be edging to make an impactful contribution against his former franchise when he faces off against them on Tuesday night.

Rohit has been making a concerted effort to break out from shackles in recent games. He has been stepping out to spinners and bringing out the big shots early on in the powerplay overs to adopt a counter-attacking approach. It is imperative for Rohit to play well in order for MI to have a successful season and his approach in recent times suggests that a big knock might just be around the corner sometime soon.

The track at the Narendra Modi Stadium throughout the season has been suitable for all bowling types and hence a fair contest between the bat and the ball might be lined up for this game.

The match will be telecast on the Star Sports Network and it will be digitally streamed on the JioCinema application. The game will commence at 7:30 pm on Tuesday.