Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl against Gujarat Titans in match 5 of the Indian Premier League 2024. Hardik is making his return to Ahmedabad for the first time since his controversial move to five-time champions Mumbai Indians last year. (Live Blog | Scorecard | Cricket News)
Speaking at the toss, Hardik said, "We are gonna bowl first. Looks like a decent track, might get better if the dew arrives. Feels good to be back. My birthplace is Gujarat, a lot of success came in Gujarat, very grateful to the crowd and this state. My cricketing birth happened in Mumbai, so really good to be be back. It's been almost two weeks, we started the camp. Boys are very eager to go out there and perform. We had wonderful practice matches and practice nets. All are looking good. The excitement is a different feeling. We have four quicks, three spinners and seven batters. Making sure all the departments are looked after."
Shubman Gill, who will be leading the GT franchise, expressed his excitement in leading the last year's runners-up. He said, "Feels very excited, to be able to captain at a stadium where I have a lot of fond memories. This has been one of our strengths, the last couple of seasons the support that we've got from the fans has been tremendous for us. I was here a week prior before this game, played a practice match, had a couple of practice sessions. Everyone is looking good, everyone is looking fit. We have got three players making debuts for GT - Umesh bhai, Spencer and Omarzai. There are so many players who will be making their debut later this season. There is Sushant from the U-19s, Sai Sudharsan has been doing well for us in the last couple of sessions."
Here are the playing XIs:
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Shubman Gill(c), Wriddhiman Saha(w), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Spencer Johnson.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Luke Wood.
Here are the Impact substitutes for both the teams:
Gujarat Titans Subs: BR Sharath, Mohit Sharma, Manav Suthar, Abhinav Manohar, Noor Ahmad
Mumbai Indians Subs: Dewald Brevis, Romario Shepherd, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Mohammad Nabi.
