South Africa’s Tristan Stubbs will make his IPL 2022 debut against the Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday. Mumbai Indians veteran Kieron Pollard, however, has been benched on his 35th birthday. 

MI skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first. 

Announcing his decision, Sharma said that the Mumbai Indians want to try new and younger players. Hrithik Shokeen comes in for M Ashwin. 

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“We will field first. It’s the nature of the ground, and what suits our team. Nothing has worked for us this season. Keeping an eye on the future, Pollard is out and Stubbs is in. Shokeen comes in for Ashwin. He (Pollard) was the one who came up to us and he was ready for it. We want to try out a few players, got to see what they have to offer. Looks a good track, hope it plays well throughout the 40 overs. It’s brilliant to play against Chennai, it’s always like that. We need to try and win the game,” Rohit Sharma said at the toss. 

CSK go in the game unchanged. 

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“It has worked for us, batting first. We are playing with the same team. Someone like a Jaddu, he is one of those who helps us try out different combinations. It’s tough to replace him, don’t think anyone can field better, no replacement in that aspect. When a lot of is at stake, you need to do the homework and focus on the process, irrespective of the opposition,” MS Dhoni said. 

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Teams:

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Maheesh Theekshana, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Tristan Stubbs, Ramandeep Singh, Tim David, Daniel Sams, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jasprit Bumrah, Riley Meredith