Mumbai don Women’s PL jersey against KKR

On the occasion of the ESA (Education and Sports For All) Day, Mumbai Indians chose to don their Women's Premier League (WPL) jersey during their Indian Premier League fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders today. 

Over 19,000 girls alongside the inaugural WPL-winning Mumbai Indians side -- featuring star players in Hayley Mathhews, Amelia Kerr, Hermanpreet Kaur, and Nat Sciver-Brunt -- are expected to be present at the Wankhede Stadium to cheer for the Rohit Sharma-led side, owned by Reliance Group who took the initiative for ESA Day. 

Mumbai have won the toss and chose to field first. Captain Sharma, however, sits on the substitute bench as a stomach bug forced him out of the starting eleven.

"Mumbai Indians have been fantastic in creating this initiative and hopefully, it's going to go out to the rest of the world," Mumbai head coach Mark Boucher had said.

Mumbai Indians' WPL bowling coach Jhulan Goswami added, "Definitely, it's going to motivate them and encourage them. In the future, we will see a lot of girls coming into the sport,"

LITON'S WAIT CONTINUES

Bangladesh batter Liton Das has to wait to make his first appearance in the Premier League (IPL) debut as Kolkata Knight Riders opted to field an unchanged playing, which they fielded against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday.

Prior to the Hyderabad fixture, the stylish right-hander had to miss Kolkata's previous three outings in the ongoing IPL season due to his involvement with the national team.

Kolkata roped in Liton for INR 50 lakh alongside star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who, however, will miss the IPL season due to 'family emergency'. 

Before leaving for India after Bangladesh played their one-off Test against Ireland at home, Liton had said:

"I don't know whether I'd play or not. It's a learning process. I never went to such an event like this before; this is my first time and obviously, it's a good feeling."