{"id":22337,"date":"2025-05-26T19:44:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=600891"},"modified":"2025-05-26T19:44:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:14:52","slug":"watch-hardik-pandya-suryakumar-yadav-play-fingers-game-to-decide-mis-toss-strategy-ahead-of-pbks-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/watch-hardik-pandya-suryakumar-yadav-play-fingers-game-to-decide-mis-toss-strategy-ahead-of-pbks-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav play \u2018fingers game\u2019 to decide MI\u2019s toss strategy ahead of PBKS clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"195\" data-end=\"446\">Ahead of the high-stakes <strong data-start=\"220\" data-end=\"254\">Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians<\/strong> clash at the <strong data-start=\"268\" data-end=\"304\">Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur<\/strong>, Mumbai Indians stars <strong data-start=\"327\" data-end=\"344\">Hardik Pandya<\/strong> and <strong data-start=\"349\" data-end=\"369\">Suryakumar Yadav<\/strong> were spotted engaging in a fun pre-match ritual to resolve the toss dilemma.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"448\" data-end=\"790\">In a light-hearted moment before the toss, <strong data-start=\"491\" data-end=\"532\">Suryakumar Yadav held out two fingers<\/strong> and asked Hardik to pick one, ultimately helping the MI skipper decide whether to bat or bowl first. The playful exchange unfolded even as <strong data-start=\"672\" data-end=\"723\">Mumbai Indians\u2019 team management remained unsure<\/strong> about their approach in this crucial final league-stage encounter.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/45kennyat7PM\/status\/1926995355670806828<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"792\" data-end=\"1072\">Despite the decision-making gesture, <strong data-start=\"829\" data-end=\"860\">Hardik Pandya lost the toss<\/strong>, and <strong data-start=\"866\" data-end=\"925\">Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer elected to bowl first<\/strong>. Fortunately for MI, the outcome aligned with their likely strategy, as they ended up batting first \u2014 a call that Suryakumar had subtly indicated.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1074\" data-end=\"1108\">Speaking at the toss, Hardik said:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"1109\" data-end=\"1416\">\n<p data-start=\"1111\" data-end=\"1416\">\u201cIt\u2019s a good toss to lose; we were not sure what to do. We didn\u2019t mind either batting or bowling. We will put some runs and defend it. For us to be in this situation, a lot of results had to go our way. Five days back, we were not here, but now we are. The last 8\u20139 games have been like knockouts for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 data-start=\"1418\" data-end=\"1438\">What\u2019s at stake:<\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"1440\" data-end=\"1627\">\n<li data-start=\"1440\" data-end=\"1539\">\n<p data-start=\"1442\" data-end=\"1539\">Both <strong data-start=\"1447\" data-end=\"1469\">Punjab Kings (2nd)<\/strong> and <strong data-start=\"1474\" data-end=\"1498\">Mumbai Indians (3rd)<\/strong> have already qualified for the playoffs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"1540\" data-end=\"1627\">\n<p data-start=\"1542\" data-end=\"1627\">A win today secures a <strong data-start=\"1564\" data-end=\"1582\">top-two finish<\/strong>, offering an extra lifeline in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1629\" data-end=\"1821\">Mumbai Indians enter the contest fresh off a <strong data-start=\"1674\" data-end=\"1708\">59-run win over Delhi Capitals<\/strong>, while Punjab Kings will look to bounce back after conceding a 6-wicket loss to Delhi, despite posting 206 runs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahead of the high-stakes Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Mumbai Indians stars\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":42576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[143,624],"class_list":["post-22337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl","tag-hardik-pandya","tag-suryakumar-yadav"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}