Suryakumar Yadav not in MI XI, Hardik Pandya opts to play against KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders (XI played): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron GreenAngkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil NarineVarun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessings Muzarabanimumbai indians (XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (centre), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.Pandya explained the decision to bowl first at the toss and expressed confidence in his team.“We’re going to bowl. It’s looking good, it’s greener than before. Let’s see how it performs. This is our fortress, the crowd is behind us and we want to have a good game. We’re starting a few weeks early and have a good mix of experience and youth. Rohit, Surya, Mitchell Santner – so there’s no shortage of captaincy; I’m excited to go out and perform. We have six batsmen and five bowlers.”On the other side, KKR captain Ajinkya Lahani Admitted he would also prefer to bowl first given the unusual grass cover on the pitch.“We had wanted to bowl but have never seen such a big pitch at the Wankhede. The preparations have been good and there have been a few training camps in Kolkata and Mumbai. We know MI is a championship team and we are looking forward to playing them. Just stay in the present and don’t look back. There are some injuries – we will field six batsmen and five bowlers. Four overseas players – Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Sunil Narine and Blessed Muzarabani.“Mumbai Indians also handed debuts to AM Ghazanfar and Sherfane Rutherford, while Shardul Thakur marked his return to the side.Interestingly, MI will be looking to break a long-standing trend as they have not won the first game of an IPL season since 2012.