'Where is Ishan Kishan?' - Twitter not happy with Saurabh Tiwary playing in first game of IPL 2020

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) finally got underway with the game between Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). It always seemed the perfect game to start the tournament given the fact that there was so much excitement built around it. Ahead of the game, there was so much predicting done about the playing XIs of the teams.

However, once the toss took place, both the sides managed to surprise everyone with their team selections. While the CSK didn’t pick Dwayne Bravo in their XI and preferred Sam Curran, the defending champions handed a debut to Australian pacer James Pattinson. But one player who all expected to play for MI was Ishan Kishan given that he had featured for them throughout the season last year.

But Saurabh Tiwary was included in the final XI by the Rohit Sharma-led side which has raised quite a few eyebrows. The left-hander, interestingly, played for the same team in the inaugural IPL and had shone with the bat. Moreover, this is Tiwary’s first IPL appearance since 2017. Even then, he was with the MI team and had played against KKR opening the innings. The southpaw had mustered 52 runs off 43 balls in that game.

Overall, Tiwary scored 1276 runs at an average of 28.36 and a strike-rate of 119.59 with seven half-centuries and will be keen on adding more runs to his kitty.

Ishan Kishan’s record in IPL 2019

One possible reason for Ishan Kishan being benched is his record last year. He had played only seven matches for MI and mustered only 101 runs at an average of 16.83 and strike-rate of 101. However, the fans weren’t happy with the decision and they slammed the team for dropping a very good batsman from the line-up. Meanwhile, MI will be hoping that their decision turns out be a good one and Tiwary delivers batting at four for the team.

It will also be interesting to see if the team will back Saurabh Tiwary ahead of Ishan Kishan for the next few matches even if he fails.

Here’s how fans reacted:

Saurabh tiwari in place of Ishan kishan is biggest surprise.

— Advitiya Srivastava (@Advitya08) September 19, 2020

No Ishan kishan? Seriously? And Sourav Tiwari🤣🤣
Lagta hai is Rohit ne Ishan kisan ko vada pav samaj k kha liya bc.#MIvCSK

— Defacto (@defactojourn) September 19, 2020

first match big surprise!!!… no Tahir and Brovo for CSK, and sourabh tiwari playing today instead ishan kishan!!!!!#IPL #MIvCSK

— Rajesh M B (@rajeshmagnur) September 19, 2020

Didn't expect Saurab Thiwary in place of Ishan Kishan, Pattinson and Sam Curran ahead of veteran DJ Bravo.
🤨

Surprises to start with.#IPL2020 #MIvCSK

— Poornama Edirisooriya🇱🇰 (@iam_poor9) September 19, 2020

Where is ishan kishan

— Abhishek Gupta (@Abhishek_3Gupta) September 19, 2020

Hey @mipaltan as you don't need Ishan Kishan, please trade him to @KKRiders #IPL #CSKvsMI #KKR

— #GillOP (@knight_riderr7) September 19, 2020

Saurabh Tiwari over Ishan Kishan 🙄🙄

— Z E Y A (@iam_hashmi) September 19, 2020

Saurabh tiwary in place of Ishan kishan 🙄 #MIvCSK

— Mohit Bohra (@mohitbohra07) September 19, 2020

Why there is no ishan kishan 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂🤦‍♂

— Ayodhya Kinkar Kabi (@KabiKinkar) September 19, 2020

Saurabh Tiwari ahead of Ishan Kishan 🥴
Let's see how it goes.#MIvsCSK #Mi #CSK

— Sandip Poudel Pietersen (@PietersenSandip) September 19, 2020

Interesting call to pick Saurabh Tiwary ahead of Ishan Kishan by #MI. Both left-hand batsmen from Jharkhand, and both have captained each other too. MI think-tank have proven to be the best at what they do though, so possibly Tiwary showed exceptional form in practice… #MIvCSK

— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) September 19, 2020

No Ishan Kishan for #MI today. Chennai gets the advantage with the Toss and #MSD returns.. finally. Bring it on!! #IPL2020 #MIvCSK

— Anurag Mallick (@anuragmallick51) September 19, 2020

I am not excited l..tiwary no ishan Kishan is must better player

— Jagdish (@Jagdish81305406) September 19, 2020

Midseason transfer Ishan Kishan for Pavan Negi.

— Nikhil RCB (@NVivartha) September 19, 2020

Saurav tiwari chosen over Ishan kishan.
Let's see……#MIvCSK

— P I N T U (@Pintu_S_67) September 19, 2020