IPL 2025: Why is Rahul Tripathi not playing in MI vs CSK Match 38?

Ace batter Rahul Tripathi will not be playing in the highly-anticipated clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing IPL 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, April 20.

CSK are coming into this clash on the back of a five-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday. They have suffered five defeats from their first seven games, and two points are vital for them in this encounter. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians won their last two games and would want to complete a hat-trick of wins on Sunday. CSK defeated MI when these two teams met at Chepauk earlier in the tournament. Will the Men in Yellow do the double over their arch-rivals, or will Hardik Pandya and Co. avenge the defeat from earlier in the season?

Toss Update

Hosts skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss for MI and opted to bowl first. He said that bowling first will give his team a chance to assess the wicket and sort out plans accordingly. Meanwhile, CSK captain MS Dhoni admitted that he would have bowled first as well, citing the dew factor, which could play a massive role in the second innings.

Tripathi makes way for Ayush Mhatre

17-year-old Mumbai batter Ayush Mhatre is set to make his IPL debut as he comes into the side in place of the underperforming Rahul Tripathi. Mhatre is a naturally aggressive batter who came into the side as an injury replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad. Tripathi only scored 55 runs from five innings in IPL 2025 at an abysmal strike rate of 96.50. Meanwhile, MI have decided to stick to their winning combination.

What did the captains say?

Hardik Pandya (MI)

We are gonna bowl first. It looks like a very good wicket. Same wicket we played against RCB. That gives us a chance to look at the wicket, identify our plans. It has a good covering of grass and will be a good batting wicket. Just executing our plans and keep doing what's working for us. That's exciting, we have not played to our potential and gives us an opportunity every game to play to our potential. The man (Dhoni) behind me, everyone knows how exciting it is when he comes, CSK v MI is always exciting. Same team.

MS Dhoni (CSK)

We were looking to bowl first. The main reason is because dew has already started to set in, we have to see if it remains the same or gets worse. We are the bottom most team in the table, looking too far ahead will not help us, take one game at a time and keep pushing. We have to play bold cricket but at the same time the batters have to realise what their strengths are, same with the bowlers - that's what we have been telling the departments. The fielding is one area where we haven't taken good catches and need to improve, coming to the other two departments - we need partnerships while batting or bowling. We have one change - Ayush comes in for Tripathi.

Playing 11s

Mumbai Indians

Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Vignesh Puthur

Impact Substitutes: Rohit Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Robin Minz

Chennai Super Kings

Shaik Rasheed, Rachin Ravindra, Ayush Mhatre, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, MS Dhoni (WK & C), Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana

Impact Substitutes: Anshul Kamboj, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin