IPL 2021: Here is why SRH’s Kane Williamson and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are not playing the game against MI

Manish Pandey walked in for the toss in place of Kane Williamson during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s last league match against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Fans and experts of the fascinating game were surprised to see Pandey with Rohit Sharma at the toss. This is the first time Pandey is captaining any team in the IPL.

Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi replaced Williamson while Pandey came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

After losing the toss, Pandey revealed that SRH’s regular skipper Kane suffered a niggle ahead of this match.

“My first game as IPL captain. Last minute call. Kane [Williamson] had a niggle on his elbow. Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] has a niggle too. We would have batted first too. We will look to bowl first and look to give Bombay [Mumbai Indians] little chance. I know they are going to come all guns blazing but we are ready,” Pandey told cricketer-turned-commentator Nick Knight.

On the other hand, MI who need to win this match by at least 171 runs to qualify for IPL 2021 playoffs, made a couple of changes to their playing XI. In addition to handing a debut to veteran spinner Piyush Chawla, the defending champions also recalled all-rounder Krunal Pandya. Middle-order batsman Saurabh Tiwary and off-spinner Jayant Yadav have been benched for the crucial encounter.

Playing of both teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy, Abhishek Sharma, Manish Pandey (c), Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Umran Malik, Siddarth Kaul

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Trent Boult.