Back in Ahmedabad, this time as an opposition skipper, Hardik Pandya will hope to carry forward the legacy left by Rohit Sharma when he leads five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians against Gujarat Titans, a team that he led over the past two seasons, in their IPL opener on Sunday.

Pandya, who had led the Titans to the title in their debut season in 2022, before ending runners-up in 2023, was hired back by the Mumbai Indians, where he made his debut back in 2015.

The IPL 2024 also marks Pandya’s comeback from a ‘freak’ ankle injury he picked up in a league game against Bangladesh during the ODI World Cup in October. The star all-rounder’s progress will be closely monitored during the tournament that precedes the T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean.

With Pandya’s move to the Mumbai Indians’ fold, the Titans have decided to hand over the captaincy duties to Shubman Gill, and the Punjab right-hander, tipped as one of the future captains of the national team, will have a golden opportunity to showcase his leadership skills on the IPL stage.

As far as Sunday’s match is concerned, both sides will be without some of their key players with Mumbai’s star batter Suryakumar Yadav, yet to get a fitness clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA), and left-arm pacers Jason Behrendorff and Dilshan Madushanka already being ruled out of the IPL while new recruit Gerald Coetzee, nursing a groin injury, might not be available for the first few games.

The match will be the first occasion in a decade when India skipper Rohit Sharma turns out as a batter for the Mumbai franchise, and the right-hander will look to hit top form ahead of the ICC event, starting June 1.

All eyes will also be on the returning Ishan Kishan, who was left out of the BCCI’s central contracts for skipping domestic cricket assignments. The southpaw, who missed the entire Test series against England, preferred to train on his own for the IPL and did not turn for his state side Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy.

Coming to the home side, Gill will look to replicate his top form after ending as the leading run-getter last season. The Titans will definitely miss the services of India star Mohammed Shami in the pace department as he is expected to return to action only in the second half of the year after recently undergoing a surgery to repair Achillies tendon.

However, the Titans will be bolstered by the return of their potential match-winning all-rounder Rashid Khan from a back surgery. The Afghanistan spinner made his comeback in the series against Ireland last week. Among the new joinees, left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson and Azmatullah Omarazai, will be looking to make an instant mark.