Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have won the toss and elected to bowl first against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Rohit Sharma is still out due to injury as MI have not made any changes in the team. While CSK have made only one change, Prashant Veer has come in place of Matthew Short.

The clash between the two five-time IPL champions, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, has gained added interest after Mumbai snapped their four-match losing streak with a win over the Gujarat Titans earlier this week. Led by Hardik Pandya, the side has managed two victories from six outings so far.

Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) find themselves in a similar position, also registering two wins and four defeats in six matches. After a shaky start with three consecutive losses, they recovered with back-to-back victories, but their momentum was halted in the last game, where Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team went down by 10 runs to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

After winning the toss, MI Skipper Hardik Pandya said, “We are going to bowl first. I think a lot of boxes were ticked. The intensity was there. I think we needed that kind of game where everyone comes in and chips in. Yeah, we had a perfect game. Yes, I think that was a conscious effort – that no matter what happens, intensity is in your control. I just wanted to make sure that we enjoy ourselves. I think things were becoming quite serious. Cricket is played best when you are enjoying the sport.”

“A lot of things happen, right? So yeah, we just wanted to have fun. Things went our way, and it was a good game. This pitch looks green, but it did against the KKR game as well, and it played pretty well. It’s going to be a good track. Just want to see how much we have on the board and chase it. Same team,” he added.

While after losing the toss, Ruturaj Gaikwad said, “We would have bowled first as well, but it was a 50-50 call. It looks like a good wicket, and coming here at Wankhede Stadium, you have to bat well irrespective of whether you’re batting first or bowling first. So it is just about putting up a great show even if you’re batting first. We are doing really well. It’s just that we are not able to cash in on a couple of moments. But I think we pulled it back really well during our bowling in the last game. Even batting, we had started really well. But as I said, it’s just a couple of moments where we have to make sure we cash in, and we get that win.

“Obviously, all thanks to the legend (Dhoni), who is not here unfortunately. But obviously it is because of him. Everywhere you go, we have a lot of support. So hopefully we’ll make them happy tonight. We’ve got a couple of changes,” He added.

Playing XIs:

Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock (wk), Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Kris Bhagat, Jasprit Bumrah, Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar

Impact substitutes: Mayank Rawat, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Danish Malewar, Raghu Sharma

Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh

Impact substitutes: Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Matt Henry, Akeal Hossein, Urvil Patel.

–IANS

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