IPL 2021: Devdutt Padikkal Misses MI Match for Health Reasons, Kyle Jameson and Dan Christian In

Devdutt Padikkal will miss Royal Challengers Bangalore’s opening IPL 2021 match against Mumbai Indians, while Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar and Kyle Jamieson make their debuts for the franchise. Dan Christian, meanwhile, is back to RCB after eight years.

FOLLOW LIVE: MI vs RCB Live Score, IPL 2021, Match 1

While Maxwell has been a regular in the IPL, Jamieson and Patidar are playing their first IPL game. Patidar comes in place of Padikkal, who misses out having just recovered from COVID-19. Virat Kohli confirmed at the toss that Padikkal was missing out for health reasons, and that the health experts have given him a go ahead to play from the second game.

Virat Kohli Says Thought of Leaving RCB has Never Crossed his Mind

Kohli won the toss and opted to field first.  Chris Lynn and Marco Jansen will be making their debut for Mumbai Indians in the opening game of IPL 2021 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai. It will also be Jansen’s IPL debut. Lynn has played 41 IPL matches in all for 1280 runs at a strike rate around 140, and was picked by Mumbai Indians last season. However, he did not get a chance in the XI.

Prior to the match, Kohli said the match was an exciting challenge.

“I truly believe that we have to focus on our skills and our strengths as a side. Mumbai, obviously, is a champion team they know how to win this competition, we know the strength of their team so if focus too much on that then we are not gonna focus on what we can do. At the end of the day, you are playing cricket which is played on the day in the moment and you could be better than any other guy in the world at that moment,” Kohli said in a video posted by the RCB on their official Twitter handle.

“Coming up against Mumbai is always an exciting challenge. Last year, we had two exciting games and we won one and they won the second one which was obviously close and they came through because they have such a strong team. The first one was a cliff-hanger as well big scores and Super Over. We expect a great game to start off the IPL. I can’t think of a more exciting or highly skilled intense game to start off the IPL,” he added.

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• Dan Christian
• Devdutt Padikkal
• Glenn Maxwell
• IPL 2021
• Kyle Jamieson
• Rajat Patidar