Mumbai Indians replaced Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as their captain. They will face Gujarat Titans in their opening match of IPL 2024.
Mumbai Indians will start its IPL 2024 campaign on Sunday (March 24) against last year’s runners-up Gujarat Titans. MI have made several changes in their squad this year, most notably being the inclusion of Hardik Pandya into their team. Not only this, but the five-time IPL champions also appointed Hardik Pandya as their captain replacing Rohit Sharma.
MI last won the IPL trophy in 2020. The team boasts of several talented youngsters like Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Nehal Wadhera, and Akash Madhwal. With a new captain and a solid squad, Mumbai will be looking to turn things around and get back to winning ways.
Young Mumbai batter Tilak Varma hopes to have an impressive IPL 2024. While speaking to the media ahead of the game against Gujarat Titans, the 21-year-old said that he has already played white-ball cricket for India and will look to play with more responsibility in this IPL.
“Yes, obviously, I am looking forward to it. Last year was a good season, but now, as a senior player and having played for India, I have a slightly bigger responsibility to play mature innings. As I have said previously, I always want to finish games, and I have good knowledge and experience of it when playing for India, so I am looking forward to using it now,” Tilak said.
“Last season, I played a few games with an aggressive approach. I would have good starts but would get out early. But in the next few games, I would end with scores of 30s and 40s. I was close to finishing the games. So those things (when playing for India) would be a bit different as my strike rate would be initially low, but I would pick it up later as games progressed. I hope to use this learning in my batting for IPL 2024,” he added.
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Tilak Varma has played two seasons in IPL so far and has an impressive record. He has scored 740 runs in 25 IPL matches at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 144.53. The left-hander is likely to bat in the middle order this year, With T20 World Cup approaching, Tilak will be eyeing a spot in India’s squad for the tournament.
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