Hardik Pandya's Homecoming: Mumbai Indians vs. Gujarat Titans IPL Clash

There's a good probability the visiting team member will feel comfortable at home. That is definitely the case for Hardik Pandya, the current captain of the Mumbai Indians, who will skipper his club on Sunday against the Gujarat Titans, his old squad, at the Motera in Ahmedabad.

As the captain of the Gujarat franchise since its inception in 2022, Pandya has some kind of advantage in the IPL since he is very familiar with the nucleus of the Titans group as well as the conditions at the Motera. In that sense, Team MI will undoubtedly benefit from it.

That being said, Pandya's performance in this IPL, his first major competition after missing a significant portion of India's ODI World Cup campaign due to an ankle injury last year, is as significant. It will be crucial to see how well he handles the bat, bowls seam effectively, and fields the ball in addition to how well he fills in for Rohit Sharma, who captained MI to up to five IPL championships.

As a professional, Pandya is supposed to block out any outside chatter implying that things aren't going well in the MI camp following the captaincy change prior to the start of the season. Given that Pandya has participated in multiple IPL games and Team India matches under Rohit's guidance, it is likely that he will consult the former MI captain while under duress.

As they appear to be taking each game one at a time, the five-time champions should find things lot easier going forward with Pandya and Rohit chemistry. Depending on which team performs well, the (title) challenge will be understood based on present form.

Before our campaign begins, we are unable to predict which team will present the greatest obstacle. We won't find out which team is more competitive for us until the event. One of MI's most reliable batsmen, Tilak Varma, who is young, stated on Saturday that this is something they will learn going forward.

Ishan Kishan, who has a point to show after losing his BCCI central contract for going against the Board's directive on domestic cricket, is another player whose performance will be closely examined.

Shubman Gill, the team's recently selected captain, has the responsibility of making sure the Titans play with the same level of consistency as they did in their first two seasons.

For the in-form Gill, who has been trying to step up his game, this is the ideal opportunity to demonstrate why he might be one of Team India's future captains.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

The 2022 winners will also benefit from the return of star Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan following a back operation.