Lucknow, Apr 4 (UNI) Star opener Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of Mumbai Indians' playing XI due to a knee injury, as captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field against Lucknow Super Giants in the 16th IPL 2025 matct at Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekna Stadum ere on Friday.
"Rohit was hit on the knee. He is missing out," Pandya confirmed at the toss. He also provided an update on their premier pacer, adding, "Jasprit should be back soon."
Electing to bowl first, Pandya said the decision was influenced by the pitch conditions and possible dew later in the evening.
"Looks like a fresh wicket. Not sure how it is going to play. Looks a decent track. Dew might come in later. Thought better to chase," he explained.
He also downplayed discussions about pitch behaviour, saying the team is focused on adaptability. "We in a group have spoken that we don't want to talk about the wickets. We are here to play good cricket. That's the talk we have. Let's not talk about the surfaces. It's all about adaptation, sticking to the right plans and being smart. Lot of runs are being scored. Cricket is situation-based."
On the other side, LSG captain Rishabh Pant backed his batting unit despite recent struggles.
"I think we are pretty confident as a batting unit. A very strong unit. Few of our players haven't come off including me," he said.
Pant reaffirmed the team’s intent to play aggressive cricket. "We had talked to play in this fashion throughout the tournament. The general discussion is to go out there and express yourself. We haven't talked about targets. Just play the ball, watch the ball and react."
He also expressed belief in converting starts into big scores. "The way I have set up myself… once we get a start, we will capitalise," Pant added. LSG made one change, bringing in Akash Deep for Siddharth.
Teams:
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Raj Bawa, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Vignesh Puthur, Trent Boult
Mumbai Indians Impact Subs: Tilak Varma, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Satyanarayana Raju, Karn Sharma
Lucknow Super Giants Impact Subs: Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, M Siddharth, Akash Singh.
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