Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman made his debut for Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 9 of IPL 2025 against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The debut cap was handed over by senior MI opener Rohit Sharma, marking a special moment for the 23-year-old bowler.
Mujeeb replaced Will Jacks in the XI, while MI skipper Hardik Pandya returned to the side after serving a one-match ban, taking the place of Vignesh Puthur, the young spinner who took three wickets in the previous match. Surprisingly, Puthur wasn’t even named among the Impact Substitutes, despite his promising performance and recent praise from MS Dhoni.
The toss went in MI’s favor, with Hardik opting to field first, citing pitch uncertainty and the dew factor as key reasons. GT, on the other hand, stuck to their previous playing XI with Shubman Gill leading from the front.
Mujeeb was recently drafted into MI’s squad after fellow Afghan spinner AM Ghazanfar was ruled out due to a back injury (L4 vertebra fracture) suffered during Afghanistan’s tour of Zimbabwe. Ghazanfar was expected to make his IPL debut this season before being sidelined for four months.
Mumbai Indians Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Satyanarayana Raju
Impact Subs: Robin Minz, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks
Gujarat Titans Playing XI:
Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R. Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Impact Subs: Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Phillips, Ishant Sharma, Anuj Rawat, Washington Sundar
The spotlight now remains on how Mujeeb performs on debut and whether MI can bounce back to secure their first win of IPL 2025.
