Punjab Kings (PBKS) stand-in captain Sam Curran won the all-important toss and elected to field in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 18 (Thursday). PBKS made two changes with Rilee Rossouw replacing Jonny Bairstow and Ashutosh Sharma replacing Atharva Taide. MI went in with the same playing XI that featured in the last match.
Punjab Kings Playing XI: Rilee Rossouw, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh
Mumbai Indians Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah
Both franchises enter the contest on the back of tough defeats. Punjab Kings nearly clinched a victory against the Rajasthan Royals, but fell just short when defending 147 runs, with Shimron Hetmyer's decisive performance sealing their fate in a thrilling finish. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians faced a 20-run loss at their home ground to Chennai Super Kings. Despite Rohit Sharma's impressive century, MS Dhoni's significant contribution in the final overs led CSK to a win, sparking renewed discussions about Hardik Pandya's leadership abilities.
Squads
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.
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