Mumbai Indians were handed a major boost ahead of their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Rajasthan Royals as skipper Rohit Sharma was declared fit to take part in the blockbuster encounter at home.

A leg spasm had forced Rohit to miss an IPL game for the first time in 11 seasons when he sat out of Mumbai’s last match against Kings XI Punjab. He had sustained the injury during a training session.

Asked about Rohit’s injury status, Zaheer said, “He is definitely available, available for selection and he is very confident, so that is a very positive sign right now for us. He is going to practice and get a better gauge of things, but we are pretty confident (of him playing).”

Also, this match could see the return of Evin Lewis, who opened the innings for MI last year. Quinto de Kock has done well for the three-time champions so far but he has scored just one fifty plus score in six innings.

With de Kock out, Ishan Kishan will be handed the extra responsibilty to keep wickets as well. The rest of the line-up is expeted to be the same with Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard manning the middle-order along with the Pandya brothers.

Rahul Chahar’s impressive form almost guarantees him a spot in the playing XI while the pace attack will be formed by Alzarri Joseph, Jason Behrendorff and Jasprit Bumrah.

Predicted XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Alzarri Joseph, Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff

First Published: Apr 12, 2019 23:22 IST