Shane Warne wouldn't have to wait too long to find out if Sachin Tendulkar "will open and face [Shaun] Tait. Or drop himself down order and let others take on Tait". Tendulkar won the toss and chose to bat on a Brabourne pitch that usually keeps bowlers and strokemakers interested.
Mumbai Indians lived up to their name by becoming the first team in three seasons of the tournament to play only three overseas players: Sanath Jayasuriya, Ryan McLaren and Lasith Malinga. The surprise move in the Indian selections was the leaving out of Abhishek Nayar.
Rajasthan chose to go with an all-sling opening combination, bringing back Kamran Khan, whose suspect action was reported last year, soon after he stunned a few teams with his slingy left-arm pace bowling. Munaf Patel, their best bowler last year, was left out, as was Siddharth Trivedi.
Mumbai Indians Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Saurabh Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu, Ali Murtaza, Ryan McLaren, R Sathish, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Aditya Tare (wk).
Rajasthan Royals Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Paras Dogra, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Shane Warne (capt.), Kamran Khan, Shaun Tait, Amit Uniyal.