The second leg of the IPL 2021 has started with the game between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians. However, Mumbai’s regular captain Rohit Sharma has not taken the field as he has suffered an injury at the Oval Test against England two weeks ago. And, he hasn’t fully recovered from that as well.
In his absence, West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard has been leading the team. However, Pollard has led the team in a couple of matches in phase 1 also when Rohit was unfit. Along with Rohit Sharma, all-rounder Hardik Pandya was also not a match fit so he also didn’t take part.
And, Mumbai Indian’s newly added talent scout, Parthiv Patel, has shared the reason behind their exclusion from the playing XI. “As a precautionary measure, he (Hardik Pandya) isn’t added in the playing XI just like Rohit Sharma. He isn’t 100% fit and in a long tournament like IPL, can’t take risks from the very first match. 100% fit Hardik is needed for Mumbai Indians’ team balance,” he said.
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As far as the game is concerned, MS Dhoni-led CSK has won the toss and chose to bat first. For Mumbai Indians, Anmolpreet Singh has made his debut. And, the stand-in skipper Pollard shared his happiness to lose the toss.
“We weren’t sure so, happy that I lost the toss. Rohit is okay, he’ll be fine sooner rather than later, I’m just the captain for today. We started a couple of months back, and we were just starting to build the momentum with a couple of wins,” Pollard said.
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Meanwhile, his loss somehow worked for him as CSK has a rather poor start where they lost 4 wickets within 6 overs, with Ambati Rayudu retired hurt. On the other hand, Mumbai speedster Jasprit Bumrah has been playing his 100th game in the Indian Premier League and all of those for the Mumbai franchise only. Notably, the tournament will continue to take place until October 15 in the UAE as well before the T20 World Cup will take place in the UAE.
