Kamal Ghorui
A brief pause at the toss caught attention as commentator Ravi Shastri appeared to forget the name of Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad during the IPL 2026 match against Mumbai Indians on Thursday.While conducting the toss, Shastri introduced Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya but stopped briefly before naming Gaikwad.“For the Blues (MI), it’s Hardik Pandya, for the yellow,” Shastri paused briefly before taking the name of “Ruturaj Gaikwad”.Pandya won the toss and chose to bowl first in the match between the two five-time champions.Mumbai Indians went in with the same playing XI from their previous game, with Rohit Sharma missing his third straight match due to a hamstring issue.For Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni is still recovering from a calf strain and has not played a game in IPL 2026.Speaking at the toss, Pandya said, “We are going to bowl first. I think a lot of boxes were ticked (in the last match against GT). The intensity was there. I think we needed that kind of a game where everyone comes in and chips in. Yeah, we had a perfect game. Yes, I think that was a conscious effort – that no matter what happens, intensity is in your control. I just wanted to make sure that we enjoy ourselves.”Gaikwad said, “We would have bowled first as well, but it was a 50-50 call. It looks a good wicket and coming here at Wankhede Stadium, you have to bat well irrespective of whether you’re batting first or bowling first. So it is just about putting up a great show even if you’re batting first. We are doing really well. It’s just that we are not able to cash in on a couple of moments.”TeamsMumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Krish Bhagat, AM Ghazanfar and Ashwani Kumar.Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh and Mukesh Choudhary
