Toss Mumbai Indians chose to bowl v Kolkata Knight Riders
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kuldeep Yadav is playing his first T20 since taking a matchwinning 2 for 12 as Uttar Pradesh won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January © BCCI
Mumbai Indians defence of their IPL title did not go according to plan in their opening game at the Wankhede stadium. They also have to make do without home comforts after the Bombay High Court ruling to shift all IPL matches out of Maharashtra from May. Rohit Sharma put up a brave face nonetheless, drawing on the aura of the Eden Gardens. He won the toss and opted to bowl, thinking there might be dew later in the evening.
If that is the case, Kolkata Knight Riders will have to put up a strong total because they have gone in with three spinners. Chinaman Brad Hogg keeps his place – ahead of Sunil Narine – and so does legspinner Piyush Chawla. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav was bumped off so that another chinaman Kuldeep Yadav can be accommodated. Kuldeep is playing his first T20 since taking a matchwinning 2 for 12 as Uttar Pradesh won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January.
Mumbai had one forced change to make – Lendl Simmons was injured and he was replaced by Parthiv Patel. The vacant overseas slot was filled by fast bowler Tim Southee, who will partner his New Zealand team-mate Mitchell McClenaghan. Vinay Kumar missed out as a result. Shreyas Gopal, who made 2 off 19 balls in the opening match of IPL 2016, was dropped for J Suchith.
There were some tremors felt at the Eden Gardens around the time of the toss.
Mumbai Indians 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel, 3 J Buttler (wk), 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Harbhajan Singh, 8 J Suchith, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Tim Southee, 11 J Bumrah
Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Colin Munro, 5 Suryakumar Yadav, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 John Hastings, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Bradd Hogg
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo