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Suryakumar Yadav will captain Mumbai Indians in their opening IPL match against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday as regular skipper Hardik Pandya will be forced to sit out due to a one-match suspension for over-rate offences committed by the team last season.
Yadav is the national T20 captain and recently led the side to a 4-1 triumph over England at home. However, his batting form wasn`t particularly impressive and he managed just 38 runs in the five outings during the series.
“Surya leads India as well. When I am not there he is the ideal choice,” Pandya said during MI`s pre-season press conference.
Interestingly, Yadav, who brings ample leadership experience to the table, is set to captain the five-time champions for a second time. He had previously led the team in IPL 2023.
For the unversed, Yadav made his IPL captaincy debut last season when regular captain Rohit Sharma was unwell.
Due to the Impact Player rule, Rohit was still able to feature in the game as a batter despite suffering from a stomach bug. The former MI captain sat out during Kolkata Knight Riders` (KKR) innings and later walked in to bat for Mumbai, scoring 20 off 13 deliveries.
“Will love to bowl first, the wicket looks dry. The ball comes on to the bat nicely later. Rohit is out, he has a stomach bug. Time to put up a good show. We are going with one change, Duan Jansen comes in, rest all is same,” Suryakumar revealed at the toss.
Sharma recovered before the next fixture and resumed his captaincy duties. However, IPL 2023 turned out to be his final season as MI captain. Ahead of the 2024 season, Mumbai made a bold move by trading for Pandya and reinstating him as captain, thus replacing Sharma.
Pandya had previously joined Gujarat Titans (GT) before the IPL 2022 mega auction and led them to a triumphant debut season, clinching the title. Under his captaincy, GT made a strong run to the final in the next season as well.
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