Mumbai Indians Bowl First vs RCB in IPL 2026 Clash, Santner Returns

Mumbai Indians made two changes in their playing XI, bringing in Mitchell Santner and Mayank Markande in place of AM Ghazanfar and Deepak Chahar. RCB brought in Jacob Duffy for Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood.

Pandya said it looks like a good track and that it is always good to bat second at this venue. "Tonight is a big game, so just come out and play good cricket, and enjoy the sport," said the Mumbai Indians skipper.

"You need to land the ball right and play the right shots. As long as you do that, you are in the game," said Pandya, adding that it is always good to know what they are chasing.

RCB captain Rajat Patidar said he too would have bowled first on winning the toss, but reckoned the toss might not make too much of a difference. He said there have been a lot of positives for them, even in their last game, where they crossed 200. "There is a lot of support for the home side, and that is challenging," he said, adding it is also a nice opportunity for them.

Playing XIs:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (capt), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma

Impact substitutes: Jacob Bethell, Venkatesh Iyer, Rasikh Dar, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh Yadav

Mumbai Indians XI: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande

Impact substitutes: Sherfane Rutherford, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa

- IANS