IPL 2025: Why are Jos Buttler and Ryan Rickelton not playing in GT vs MI in Eliminator?

In the ongoing IPL 2025 Eliminator, the Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bat first against the Gujarat Titans on Friday, May 30 at the Maharaja Yadavindra International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh. There were five changes made to both teams, with the most startling being the absence of big-match players like Jos Buttler and Ryan Rickelton.

Why are Ricketts and Jos Buttler out of MI and GT?

MI replaced Rickelton with English wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow, whereas the Gujarat-based franchise brought in Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis to replace Buttler. Notably, both of the unavailable names have left for their national responsibilities, with South Africa preparing for the WTC Final against Australia and England already playing their multi-format series against the West Indies.

What did the captains say?

Hardik Pandya, MI captain

Big game, scoring runs will be nice. IPL is fun like that. We are aware. For almost nine games, we are playing like a knockout. We take this as a normal game and go on. We really need to turn up today and focus on the things we can control and take the smarter option. Three changes: Bairstow comes back, Gleeson gets his cap, Bawa comes in.

Shubman Gill, GT captain

We would have chased. Very happy with the tournament so far. Boys are very excited; to come back to my hometown is going to be very exciting. Third time in four years playing the playoffs. No pressure for the knockout game. Kusal Mendis for Buttler, Washington in for Arshad.

Playing 11s

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya (capt), Raj Bawa, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Richard Gleeson

Impact subs: Krishnan Shrijith, Raghu Sharma, Robin Minz, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Kusal Mendis (wk), M Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Impact subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Jayant Yadav, Arshad Khan