Ahmedabad, April 20 (IANS) Gujarat Titans (GT) have won the toss and elected to bowl first against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in match 30th of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday. The five-time champions have made several changes in the playing XI, as Krish Bhagat and Danish Malewar are making their debut, and Ryan Rickleton and Deepak Chahar are out of the team.

After winning the toss, GT skipper Shubman Gill said,” It looks like a decent wicket, honestly. There was a bit of dew in the last match. So, just in case there is today, I think it would make more sense. Always good to have a target on the board and then try to chase it down. I think the way we have been bowling up front has been a huge positive for us, even in the last match and the game before that. So hopefully we continue with our bowling rhythm up front, and then in the middle overs, Rashid Khan has been really good for us."

"So hopefully we all continue in the same manner. Always good to have some runs on the belt and in a tournament like IPL, a long tournament, if you start well, you can really, really have a good season. And that’s what I will strive for. Always a good challenge to play against them. I think they are a solid team, and hopefully it’s going to be a good match. We’re going with the same team," he added.

After losing the toss, MI skipper Hardik Pandya spoke about the changes in the team and performance so far in the season.

"We would have fielded as well. It’s obviously the last game for us as a group. We had to regroup and speak about what the Mumbai Indians stand for and what kind of game we want to play. And we had a good number of chats. People are looking forward to the game. (You have bounced back from such situations before?) Yeah, more often than not. So this time we want to make sure that we start the winning form and make sure that we play some good cricket and tick boxes whenever we are supposed to tick. And yeah, just backing each other, sticking by each other," he said

"There will be tough times, but yeah, just stand with each other and go out and play some good cricket. (Areas of improvement) I think we need to play overall better cricket. I can’t pinpoint one factor. As I’ve said earlier, we win together, we lose together. So as a group, we need to get better. It's a fresh day. The sun has risen again in a positive way. A couple of debuts for us. Danish (Malewar) makes his Mumbai Indians debut. And Krish (Bhagat), who was part of the support bowlers, really impressed us. He got into the team three days back, and such is life that he’s playing today," he added.

GT have bounced back strongly from opening two defeats to string together three consecutive victories. Their bowling unit, which was a strength last year, has rediscovered its rhythm and is now delivering across all phases of the innings. Prasidh Krishna is once again among the leading wicket-takers, while Rashid Khan has been outstanding in the middle overs. While Siraj and Rabada are also looking in good touch.

In contrast, the Mumbai Indians find themselves struggling for momentum. After ending their long-standing streak of losing opening matches, they have slipped into poor form with four successive defeats, leaving them in the lower half of the standings. Jasprit Bumrah, though economical, is yet to claim a wicket in five matches, and the bowling unit as a whole has failed to take wickets at regular intervals and also stop the flow of runs.

Playing XIs:

Gujarat Titans (Playing XI) Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ashok Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Impact substitutes: Jason Holder, Shahrukh Khan, Manav Suthar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat

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

Impact substitutes: Mayank Rawat, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma

--IANS

sds/bsk/