In all, there were three changes for Mumbai, even though SKY said one at the toss. Rohit, Arshad and Behrendorff out; David, Arjun and Jansen in. KKR have kept things simple – no change, which means, Venky Iyer starts instead of Suyash Sharma. Lot of Mumbaikars in the KKR set up too – Chandrakant Pandit and Abhishek Nayar, to start. So who starts as favourites?
3.17pm Oh hello everyone. There’s so much to unpack. Rohit’s stomach bug keeps him out of the start, but he’s in the impact sub list, so he could stay off the field while the sun is out and maybe even come to bat later. Suryakumar given the ‘headache’ of captaincy while his own form suffers. Maybe this captaincy thing shall help him. And then there’s the debut of Arjun Tendulkar. A big day for the left-arm seam-bowling allrounder who now plays for Goa in state cricket. A lot of cricket fans have been waiting for this day almost as long as Arjun himself. Sachin’s going to sit in the dugout too!
3.15pm The action should begin soon. And before it does, it’s time for me to hand the commentary over to Sreshth, who will bring you all the action from the first innings at the Wankhede today.
You can also track the game with our ball-by-ball commentary in Hindi and in Tamil.
Kolkata Knight RidersXI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (capt), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy
Subs: Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Anukul Roy, Mandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora
Mumbai Indians XI: Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Riley Meredith
Subs: Rohit Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Arshad Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Kumar Kartikeya
Arjun Tendulkar is making his Mumbai Indians debut.
Nitish Rana says he would have batted first. He says that with the heat and dryness, there is a chance the pitch will turn more as the game goes on. He says that 180 will be a good score. Same team as the last game for KKR.
SKY says Rohit has caught a stomach bug. “The pitch looks dry and there’s a history at this ground of teams chasing better. Duan Jansen comes in, that’s the only change”
3pm Mumbai Indians win the toss and bowl first.
2.59pm The big news is it will be Suryakumar Yadav leading Mumbai Indians today. He is out in the middle with Nitish Rana.
2.56pm Harmanpreet Kaur is out in the middle and having a chat with the match officials.
Mustafa Moudi: “Off Topic : Is Hrithik Shokeen named after the Famous Bollywood Actor Hrithik Roshan. He is born few months after the actor’s Debut sensation Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. Interestingly, His father’s name is Rakesh like the Actor !!” That is indeed a suspicious coincidence! You may well be right, but we don’t know that for a fact yet.
Samir Dave: “You got to give it to KKR COACH for instilling a ‘never die attitude’ in the team during this transition phase! Its not easy! But such fundamentals go a long way in developing the DNA of any side ! The Pedigree of coach Chandrakant Pandit- will be realised in time to come , but what better day than today- to show it! He is the local guy and has the know how of every inch of this ground. it wl comehandy with all his insights! Match /game/ground Awareness is the key! Game On “
2.52pm There will be two Mumbai Indians captains turning up at toss on Sunday afternoon. It is understood that Harmanpreet Kaur will accompany Rohit Sharma to the centre as part of the franchise’s initiative to support young girls.
The initiative, called Education and Sports for All and run by the franchise in association with Reliance Foundation, will also have the Wankhede Stadium filled with over 19,000 young girls. In a media release issued by Mumbai, the franchise said these girls are from 36 NGOs in the city. No tickets have been put on sale for the public otherwise.
Mumbai Indians will also be wearing the jersey of their title-winning WPL side today.
2.45pm Cameron Green and Tim David helped Mumbai Indians seal victory against Delhi Capitals, as they chased down five runs off a brilliant final over bowled by Anrich Nortje. As you wait for the game to begin, you can read Roller’s piece on the two of them and how they have settled into flexible roles at Mumbai Indians.
2.40pm Jofra Archer is having a bowl out there, but it’s some left-arm medium with a short run-up.
The good news for KKR fans: Dre Russ is in the house and he is shadow batting!
2.35pm Nagraj Gollapudi is at the ground and he says Arjun Tendulkar may be ready to play today. He has marked his run-up. Duan Jansen could debut as well, with Jofra Archer continuing to miss out. Arjun Tendulkar, Duan Jansen and Riley Meredith could make up Mumbai Indians’ seam attack today, with Cam Green offering support.
While KKR have put in some astonishing performances this season, the top order — specifically an opening partner for Rahmanullah Gurbaz — has been a question for them. While Ian Bishop feels they don’t need to tinker with the combination of Gurbaz and Jagadeesan, Amol Muzumdar said it may be time to bring in Jason Roy in our video preview.
2.30pm It’s Kolkata Knight Riders taking on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in today’s first IPL game. Last week, when KKR played the afternoon game, Rinku Singh delivered a thriller for the ages. But the Wankhede is not a happy hunting ground for the visitors, who have only beaten Mumbai Indians there once — in 2012. You can read up about that, and more, in Nagraj Gollapudi’s preview. Hello and welcome to ESPNcricinfo’s live coverage of today’s game. I am Abhimanyu Bose and I will be joined soon by my brother-in-arms Sreshth Shah as we bring to you all the action from Mumbai.
