IPL 2026: Punjab Kings wins toss, opts to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Kings have asked Sunrisers Hyderabad to bat first in match 17 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh on Saturday.

Praful Hinge is making his IPL debut. He is replacing Jaydev Unadkat in the Sunrisers Hyderabad side. Salil Arora replaced Liam Livingstone as the SRH made a couple of changes from the last game.

Shreyas Iyer, PBKS captain, informed that Priyansh Arya is in the playing XI and Nehal Wadhera may come as an Impact Substitute later in the match.

Toss @PunjabKingsIPL won the toss and elected to bowl first against @SunRisers in Match 1⃣7⃣

Updates https://t.co/DUNkQi9YaV#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #PBKSvSRH pic.twitter.com/Ha5ucUx5cF

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2026

Speaking during the toss, PBKS captain Iyer said, “We’re going to bowl first. It’s a day game, and obviously want to get a knack of how the wicket is going to play and a fair idea. But other than that, that’s what we’ve been doing in the last couple of games. We’ve been thriving on that. Just back each other, back all the youngsters in the team. The more you tell them, the more confusing it gets for them. So, it’s better that they live in their own nature and express themselves. No, we’re going with the same team. Actually, bowling first, Priyansh comes in for Nehal.”

SRH skipper Ishan Kishan said, “We would have loved to bowl first. But yeah, I think wicket looks pretty hard to me. And it’s about playing good cricket in the first innings. (On captaining) Obviously, it’s a big disadvantage for any team. Pat is a tremendous bowler. He gets on with an experience of his. But still, I feel we’ve got a young side, young bowlers today in the team. Hopefully, we’ll just try and execute the plans, which is the most important thing in T20 cricket. Yeah, there are two changes. Salil comes in in place of Livingstone and Praful Hinge; it’s his debut game in place of Jaydev Unadkat.”

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

SRH Impact subs: Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Praful Hinge, Kamindu Mendis

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga

PBKS Impact subs: Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar. (ANI)