CHENNAI: Punjab Kings (PBKS) stand-in skipper Sam Curran won the toss and opted to bowl against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.
CSK are currently placed fourth in the points table with five wins in nine games. Punjab Kings will be entering this contest after registering a world-record chase against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Speaking at the time of toss, PBKS captain Curran said there are no changes in the team. “We’ll bowl first. Looks like a good surface, new wicket and we’re excited after that last match. An amazing stadium and an amazing crowd, we’ll have to start well and take early wickets. We’ll take the confidence from that chase of 261. It’s just about fight and determination, they’re a good team, but we need to be brave. Same team for us”, he said at toss.
CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande are not part of the team.
“We would have fielded first, but we weren’t exactly sure. Always tough defending here with a lot of dew, but the fact that we won by 78 runs shows a lot about the team, but we’ll be missing out Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande today. We’ll have to get there early and make a good score. Every game is important. Matheesha Pathirana has a slight niggle, Tushar Deshpande isn’t well, so we’ve Shardul Thakur and Richard Gleeson makes his debut”.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran(c), Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh.
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Richard Gleeson and Mustafizur Rahman. (ANI)