Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya returned after missing the first match due to a ban. He revealed during the coin toss that they have dropped England all-rounder Will Jacks from the Playing XI for their match against the Gujarat Titans (GT)

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya returned after missing the first match due to a ban. He revealed during the coin toss that they have dropped England all-rounder Will Jacks from the Playing XI

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya returned after missing the first match due to a ban. He revealed during the coin toss that they have dropped England all-rounder Will Jacks from the Playing XI for their match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Instead, MI opted to go with Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

"We are going in with one change. Will Jacks is out and Mujeeb Ur Rahman is coming in. We lost the first game and we hope to put up a good game today," Hardik said at the coin toss.

Reacting to Mujeeb’s inclusion, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said in the studio, "It’s a black soil pitch, and Mujeeb’s inclusion is an indication of what we can expect here in Ahmedabad."

To give perspective, black soil has a higher clay content that retains moisture better. It leads to a pitch that remains intact for longer and allows spinners to extract more turn from the ball, which justifies MI’s decision to bring in the Afghanistan spinner.

Apart from Jacks, MI have also opted to bench the young Vignesh Puthur, who made a sensational debut with figures of three for 32 in the first game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

GT, on the other hand, have gone with an unchanged squad from their first match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS).