Rohit Sharma takes day off as Arjun Tendulkar & Chris Lynn steal show at training; see pic

With IPL 2021 set to begin on April 9, defending champions Mumbai Indians are all set to defend their title. Rohit Sharma's side will begin IPL 2021 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai on April 9. Teams have been training hard ahead of the marquee event.

Mumbai Indians team 2021: Arjun Tendulkar and Chris Lynn steal the show at training while Rohit Sharma rests

With little time remaining for the 14th season of the IPL to kickstart, fans would expect their favourite sides to be training hard, led by their captains. But Rohit Sharma believes otherwise as it was Arjun Tendulkar and Chris Lynn who took to training while the MI captain had a rest. MI fans can view all the pictures in the tweet below.

Mumbai Indians IPL 2021 schedule

With limited cities hosting IPL 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches will be played at neutral venues. Fifty-six league matches are set to be played across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata before the playoffs and final in Ahmedabad. Every team will play at four out of six venues during the league stages. The entire IPL 2021 schedule is given below.

As per Mumbai Indians IPL 2021 schedule, MI will play their first five games in Chennai. Rohit Sharma's side will go up against Royal Challengers Bangalore on the opening day of IPL 2021 before facing Kolkata Knight Riders on April 13. Both matches will begin live at 7:30 PM IST.

Unlike most seasons, defending champions Mumbai Indians will hope to kickstart their IPL 2021 campaign with a win as their side has had a tendency to lose the first few matches of the competition. Last year, Rohit Sharma's side lost their first match against the Chennai Super Kings. Despite being slow starters, MI are the most successful team in the IPL and will look for their sixth title this season. They won their previous titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020.

Mumbai Indians team 2021

MI players retained:

Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Jasprit Bumrah, Chris Lynn, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Trent Boult, Krunal Pandya,   Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni.

MI players bought at IPL 2021 auction

Adam Milne (₹3.2 crore), Nathan Coulter Nile (₹5 crore), Piyush Chawla (₹2.4 crore), James Neesham (₹50 lakh), Yudhvir Charak (₹20 lakh), Marco Jansen (₹20 lakh), Arjun Tendulkar (₹20 lakh).