7.28pm The umpires have walked out, the openers jog out with their shadow batting, and Mumbai are in a huddle. Saha and Gill opening, as usual, and they don’t have a fifty stand this IPL yet. In fact, their average is the second worst so far, only behind Shaw and Warner. Tendulkar to open the bowling again, Mumbai backing him like they should. No slip, short third in the circle and Saha on strike. Let’s get this rolling…
7.20pm Thanks Abhimanyu. Lots to look forward to in the first innings: when do Mumbai bring on Chawla? (their best bowler this season), how do they sort their death bowling problems after the last game, what total is safe on this high-scoring ground if there’s little or no dew?
7.15pm Time to welcome Vishal to the hot seat as he takes you through the first innings!
7.07pm Here are the teams:
Gujarat Titans XI: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (capt), Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma
Substitutes: Josh Little, Dasun Shanaka, R Sai Kishore, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi
Mumbai Indians XI: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Riley Meredith, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff
Substitutes: Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Shams Mulani, Vishnu Vinod, Sandeep Warrier
Hardik Pandya says that Josh Little is back in. He doesn’t remember who for!
7pm Toss time! Rohit Sharma calls it right and Mumbai Indians will bowl first. Says he wants to make the most of the conditions as they are expecting some moisture. Two changes for Mumbai Indians: Jofra Archer is not well so Riley Meredith is replacing him. Kumar Kartikeya replaces Hrithik Shokeen.
Srinivas PT: “Hardik Pandya not in the WTC test squad due to availability or injury or pure selection decision?” He has expressed that due to his fitness and workload, he is happy to play the white-ball formats right now, although he hasn’t entirely ruled out a return to Test cricket.
Abhishek: “I remember watching 2011 India vs Aus quarterfinal in office with my manager then. Not worth it :)”
Manu Ajmani: “Don’t they have to submit the playing XI along with the substitute before the toss or is it just this IPL that you can hand out caps based on if a team is batting or bowling?” In this season of the IPL, the rule has been introduced that teams can name their XI after the toss, depending on what they are doing.
Pitch report: Matthew Hayden from the ground says it is unusually humid in Gujarat. He suggests the bounce will be traditional, but the ball may grip for the spinners and the middle overs may be tough for the batters. Little chance for dew, so batting first may be a good way to go.
NethraReya: “Under 40 mins to start, manager sitting facing me at work, the moment he looksaway, I will escape home to watch this classic!!” Fingers crossed for you. Until then, you know where you can get all the action! (HERE, that is)
Patel: “Ava De~Bring it on!” I suppose this is a more authoritative answer than mine.
Samrat Ahuja: “Any cap being handed over today in any camp??” Does not look like it. Although, sometimes caps are handed out after the toss this season, as teams are picked on the basis of whether they are batting first or bowling.
6.48pm While Hardik Pandya gave the team talk to the Gujarat Titans huddle, it’s Jason Behrendorff animatedly addressing the Mumbai Indians huddle from the middle.
Monjul: “Titan catch phrase ‘ava de’, what does it mean and how it is related to cricket?” It basically means “let them come”!
Karthik: “Shane Warne also won the tile in his first season in charge.” This is true, although that was the first season for everyone!
Aditya: “Mumbai are the only side in the IPL that the Gujarat Titans have never beaten!” Indeed. The two teams faced off just once last season, with Mumbai Indians winning by a narrow margin of five runs.
Mustafa Moudi : “Fun Fact: Yash Dayal and Arjun Tendulkar, the only 2 bowlers to concede 31 Runs in an over this season belongs to these 2 sides !!”
In the points table, Gujarat Titans are currently fourth and a win will see them go level on points with toppers Chennai Super Kings. Mumbai Indians, meanwhile will look to be one of the six teams with eight points after seven games played with a win today.
Arjun Tendulkar, in his short IPL career so far, has seen the highs of getting his first wicket and then found out how difficult life is at this level as he was taken for 31 runs against Punjab Kings. But Tom Moody feels Mumbai Indians should back him to do the job at the death. Shaun Tait, meanwhile, says that Jofra Archer could take just one game to “light it up” and be back to his very best after an indifferent start to his Mumbai Indians career. All this and more in our video preview.
6.35pm This game will be another chance for the young Tilak Varma to shine. According to former India coach Ravi Shastri, he is banging the Indian team’s door down with his performances over this season and the last one.
You can also track the game with our ball-by-ball commentary in Hindi and in Tamil.
6.30pm It’s Match 35 of IPL 2023 and it is defending champions Gujarat Titans up against the team that has won the title five times, Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians went on a three-game winning streak before their defeat against Punjab Kings, while Gujarat Titans recorded an unlikely win in their last match against Lucknow Super Giants. Rohit Sharma is up against Hardik Pandya, the only two Indian captains to win the title in their first season in charge. You can read about that and a lot more in Srinidhi Ramanujam’s preview. I am Abhimanyu Bose and I will be joined soon by Vishal Dikshit as we bring you all the action from Ahmedabad today.
