The Mumbai Indians (MI) men’s team is set to sport the jerseys of the women’s team in the upcoming IPL 2023 fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (April 16).

 Rohit Sharma and his men will don the jerseys on a special ESA Day (Education and Sports For All), an initiative by Reliance Foundation, headed by Nita Ambani. Over 19,000 girls will be in attendance at the venue, witnessing the game between MI and KKR.

Mark Boucher, the head coach of the MI men’s team, Jhulan Goswami, the MI women’s team’s bowling coach, and Kieron Pollard, the Mumbai men’s batting coach, said that the initiative will encourage girls to take up sports as a profession.

“Mumbai Indians have been fantastic in creating this initiative and hopefully, it’s going to go out to the rest of the world. The biggest lesson is that they will take away from this game as well is that seeing sports and inspiring them to be able to play sport at a professional level one day,” Boucher was quoted as saying in a video uploaded on MI’s Twitter handle.

“Definitely, it’s going to motivate them and encourage them. In the future, we will see a lot of girls coming into the sport,” Goswami said.

“I think that’s a fantastic sort of gesture, not only for kids or whatever, but for the ladies of this generation. It’s very very instrumental in the development of any kid and, more so, ladies and girls, especially in sports. So, it gives you a different perspective of what you can accomplish as an individual and as a female,” Pollard stated.

Having won one out of their three IPL 2023 games so far, Mumbai Indians are currently occupying the ninth spot on the 10-team points table.