Gujarat Titans (GT), the best-performing new team in IPL history, having won the title once and missed another on the last ball of the final, will kick off their 2024 campaign against the Mumbai Indians (MI). However, this season might not be the same for the Titans given there is a new captain and their highest wicket-taker of the last season, Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the whole season.
The clash against the Mumbai Indians contains a lot of recent history and context given that Hardik Pandya, who led the Titans in their first two seasons, will be turning out for the Men in Blue as their leader replacing the five-time title-winning skipper Rohit Sharma. Pandya has won a title before so he knows what it takes to go all the way, however, there have been a lot of unsaid things in the camp and amongst the team management seeing how the trade and passing-on-the-baton took place and the 30-year-old all-rounder will have a huge responsibility in handling the team environment.
As far as the playing squads are concerned, the Mumbai Indians are definitely superior to the Gujarat Titans if compared man-to-man. But funny things happen in cricket and it isn't played on paper. Similarly for Shubman Gill, it will be a challenge for him to lead a slightly weakened side but an opportunity to star afresh.
My Dream11 team for IPL 2024 Match 5, GT vs MI:
Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shahrukh Khan, David Miller, Rashid Khan (c), Tim David, Nuwan Thushara, Mohit Sharma (vc), Jasprit Bumrah
Probable playing XIs
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill(c), Wriddhiman Saha(w), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Spencer Johnson, Noor Ahmad (impact sub)
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Mohammad Nabi, Hardik Pandya(c), Vishnu Vinod, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Piyush Chawla, Nuwan Thushara (impact sub), Luke Wood, Jasprit Bumrah
