The excitement for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season is slowly but steadily starting to kick in! The defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will open the tournament against a new look Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) side. The second night game of IPL 2025 is a mouth-watering. It is basically the El Clasico of IPL as the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) host the Mumbai Indians (MI). While MI (21-18) have a better head-to-head record over the Men in Yellow, it would take something out of the ordinary for them to beat CSK this time around. This is simply because the Mumbai Indians won’t be having the services of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah for their IPL 2025 opening game.
Why no Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah for MI vs CSK IPL 2025 game?
Mumbai Indians finished with just four wins out of 14 matches in Hardik Pandya’s maiden run as a skipper after his iconic comeback. However, he might just not see him in the MI playing XI for the opening fixture. This is because Pandya took a one-match ban for slow over rate in MI’s last league game in IPL 2024. He was also fined Rs 30 lac, with all his teammates receiving 50% match fees or Rs 12 lac fine (whichever is lesser). Since Pandya was penalized in the last IPL 2024 match of MI, his ban will be imposed on MI’s first match of IPL 2025.
In another blow to MI, their top retention Jasprit Bumrah is highly likely to miss the opening two weeks of IPL 2025. He was injured during the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and consequently missed the entire ICC Champions Trophy. According to reports, it is yet to start bowling at full tilt but will miss the initial games for MI. With both Pandya and Bumrah out of the equation, especially for the first game, that is against CSK at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, how would MI’s playing XI look?
Best Playing XI for MI 1st IPL 2025 match vs CSK (batting first)
| S No. | Player | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rohit Sharma | Batter |
| 2 | Ryan Rickelton (O) | Keeper |
| 3 | Tilak Varma | Batter |
| 4 | Suryakumar Yadav (C) | Batter |
| 5 | Will Jacks (O) | Spin All-rounder |
| 6 | Naman Dhir | Batter |
| 7 | Raj Bawa | Pace All-rounder |
| 8 | Mitchell Santner (O) | Spin All-rounder |
| 9 | Deepak Chahar | Pacer |
| 10 | Karn Sharma | Spinner |
| 11 | Trent Boult (O) | Pacer |
Suryakumar Yadav to captain a depleted lower-order
In the absence of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav should be the best bet to lead Mumbai. While Rohit Sharma will obviously be there, the Indian ODI and Test skipper has left T20Is. Suryakumar is the Indian T20I captain and thus it would be natural for him. The toughest task for SKY would be to carry a depleted MI attack.
Ryan Rickelton’s superb form would be enough to make him the designated keeper and open the batting alongside Rohit Sharma. At number three and four would be Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav himself. Considering the match will be played in Chennai, MI would love having Will Jacks, who is a destructive batter and can roll his arms over as an off-spinner. But then, the inexperience will show as Naman Dhir and Raj Bawa are expected to slot in.
Without Bumrah, where is MI’s death bowling?
Mumbai didn’t have an ideal IPL 2025 mega auction. They did buy Deepak Chahar and Trent Boult but failed to snap up any death bowling expertise. Jasprit Bumrah’s importance is paramount and hence his absence would massively hurt MI. In fact, they would be half a team without Bumrah’s unreal excellence. Mitchell Santner, who is one of the best spinners in white-ball cricket currently, would be a handful in Chennai. That is why Karn Sharma should be in the mix as well. Also, Deepak Chahar’s comeback in Chennai will force a reaction out of the CSK faithful while Boult will spearhead the bowling attack.
Mumbai Indians Squad for IPL 2025
Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Bevon Jacobs, Hardik Pandya, Naman Dhir, Raj Angad Bawa, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Ryan Rickelton, Robin Minz, Krishnan Shrijith, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, Lizaad Williams, Satyanarayana Raju, Arjun Tendulkar, Karn Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Vignesh Puthur
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