Why are Mumbai Indians players wearing WPL jerseys for todayβs IPL 2023 match?
Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are squaring off in the 22nd match of IPL 2023 today (April 16) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. All the MI players have donned the jerseys of their Women's team, who won the inaugural WPL trophy last month.
It is part of the ESA Day initiative of the Mumbai franchise as they aim to promote Education and Sports for All (ESA) on Sunday during their clash against KKR at home. The franchise desires to promote the idea of sports as a career option for girls in the country through this special event.
As part of the initiative, the Mumbai Indians are also hosting more than 19,000 young girls from different NGOs in the stadium for the match this afternoon. Several MI women's team players, including captain Harmanpreet Kaur, are also in the stands.
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"A special day in front of all these young girls"- Mumbai Indians captain Suryakumar Yadav
Speaking after winning the toss, MI's stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav opted to bowl first and expressed excitement for the match with many young girls watching on from the stands. He said:
"We'd love to bowl first. The wicket looks a little dry and there's history that later on it settles a little bit and will come onto the bat nicely. (Why is Rohit missing?) He's got a stomach bug. (Plans for today) Same aggression, same passion. A special day in front of all these young girls and let's put on a show."
MI XI: Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Riley Meredith
MI Impact substitutes: Rohit Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Arshad Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Kumar Kartikeya
KKR XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Narayan Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy
KKR Impact substitutes: Mandeep Singh, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, David Wiese