Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field against Punjab Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday. After the toss, a funny banter between both the captains took place which grabbed a lot of eyeballs and left everyone in splits. After the coin flipped in favour of Rohit, the MI captain asked Dhawan: "Kya Karu (What should I Do)?" The PBKs skipper laughed and relied, "Bowling kar le (Opt to bowl). Later, on being asked by former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra about what has he chosen to, Rohit gave an epic answer.
"I asked Shikhar Dhawan what to do. He said bowl first, so we will bowl first. It's a good pitch, we have chased down targets pretty well, so will stick to our strengths. You always want to have a score in front of you on such pitches," said Rohit at the toss.
"It's important to keep the balance, we have played enough IPL games, things can change quickly. You can see how tight the table is. It's important to focus on what we can do as a team. It's all about coming fresh into the game and try to execute your plans. We have one change, Merdith is injured. Akash Madwal is in," he added.
On the other hand, PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan said, "We would have bowled first. I feel the wicket looks good, it's not dry, won't change much. It's good to bat first and post a big total, looking forward to it. We keep the energy calm and relaxed. Mentally you need to be relaxed, as a leader I need to make sure of it. Short is in, Rabada is out."
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Arshad Khan
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.