Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 4 (ANI): The five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, MI has secured just one victory so far--a home win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)--while suffering two away defeats against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT). On the other hand, the Lucknow-based franchise has managed to win only one match out of three, and at the moment, they are in seventh position with just two points on the IPL 2025 points table.

'We are gonna bowl first. Looks like a fresh wicket. Not sure how it is going to play. Looks like a decent track. Dew might come in later. Thought better to chase. I think we in a group have spoken that we don't want to talk about the wickets. We are here to play good cricket. That's the talk we have. Let's not talk about the surfaces. I think adaptation. Sticking to the right plans and being smart. A lot of runs are being scored. Cricket is situation-based. Rohit was hit on the knee. He is missing out. Jasprit should be back soon,' Hardik Pandya said after winning the toss.

Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant said that the team is 'pretty confident' despite losing two of their three games in the 18th edition of the cash-rich league.

'I think we are pretty confident as a batting unit. A very strong unit. Few of our players haven't come off including me. We had talked to play in this fashion throughout the tournament. The general discussion is to go our there and express yourself. We haven't talked about target we want to achieve. Just play the ball and watch the ball and react. I think we are pretty confident,' Rishabhh Pant said.

Teams:

Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Akash Deep, and Avesh Khan.

Lucknow Super Giants Impact Subs: Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, M Siddharth, Akash Singh.

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Raj Bawa, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, and Vignesh Puthur.

Mumbai Indians Impact Subs: Tilak Varma, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Satyanarayana Raju, Karn Sharma. (ANI)