JAIPUR: Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl against Mumbai Indians (MI) at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday in the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In the high-stakes fixture, Mumbai and Punjab will be hoping to end the night with the two points, considering a victory will guarantee a spot in Playoffs 1, while the losing side will be destined to feature in the Eliminator clash.
Mumbai once again got off to a slow start, considering their solitary victory out of the opening five fixtures. But since then, the five-time champions have been on a roll with seven wins out of their last eight fixtures. MI has dominated the opposition and registered convincing wins with hardly a dent in their armour.
On the other hand, Punjab has exuded consistency throughout the group stage. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and the four uncapped stars, including Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh, have done the bulk of the scoring.
For the pulsating clash that poses a chance of a high-scoring affair, Punjab brought Kyle Jamieson and Vijaykumar Vyshak in the playing XI, adding depth to their pace attack. Prabhsimran has been named in the impact subs, a possibility that he will be swapped in later in the game.
After winning the toss, Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer outlined the reason behind his decision and said, “We are going to bowl first. I let the action talk more than words. I would just give them some sort of motivation, and it is their job to go and execute. Jamieson and Vyshak come in. No you can’t just take it as just another day, you have to keep updating your mind and game, you have to put your best foot forward.”
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya said during the time of the toss, “Looks like a good track, let’s see. It is a good toss to lose; we were not sure what to do. We didn’t mind either batting or bowling. We will put some runs and defend it. For us to be in this situation lot of results had to go our way, five days back we were not in this position and today we are, but being honest last 8-9 games have been like knockouts for us. Just one change – Ashwani comes in.”
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Kyle Jamieson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh
Punjab Kings Impact Subs: Prabhsimran Singh, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Xavier Bartlet, Musheer Khan
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton(w), Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Mumbai Indians Impact Subs: Karn Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Ashwani Kumar, Satyanarayana Raju. (ANI)
