Mullanpur, April 18: Left-handed batter Rilee Rossouw replaces an out-of-form Jonny Bairstow as Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first against Mumbai Indians in match 33 of IPL 2024 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium on Thursday evening.

Both teams have four points from six matches, but due to net run rate, PBKS are at eighth place, while MI are at ninth position. With the league phase nearing the half-way stage, this makes Thursday’s clash a very important match for MI and PBKS to win and keep themselves in contention to enter the playoffs.

With regular captain Shikhar Dhawan out due to a shoulder niggle, Sam Curran will continue leading the side. Curran added that uncapped Indian batter Atharva Taide has also dropped out of the playing eleven as a tactical change.

“Keeping up with the trend of the tournament (on electing to bowl first). It is not nice to lose the close games but we are doing a lot of things right,” said Curran.

Thursday’s match will also see Rohit Sharma becoming just the second player after MS Dhoni to play 250 matches in the IPL. MI skipper Hardik Pandya said his playing eleven is unchanged and was a good toss to lose for him as he was itching to bat first.

“We don't judge (our performances), couple of times we had the game in our grasp and didn't finish the game, IPL tests you, when the game is not over it is not over. We just take it game by game, go out there and give our 100 percent. Every individual should commit to the team's goal and once we do that, the results will be seen,” he said.

Playing XIs

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal and Jasprit Bumrah

Substitutes: Akash Madhwal, Nuwan Thushara, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla and Naman Dhir

Punjab Kings: Rilee Rossouw, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh

Substitutes: Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Shivam Singh, Rishi Dhawan and Vidwath Kaverappa (IANS)

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