IPL 2025: Punjab Kings opt to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals; Know playing XIs of both teams

Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the toss and decided to bat first against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium in Mullanpur on April 5.

What did the captains say afte the toss?

After winning the toss PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer said:

"We'll bowl first. Looking at the last game, we were playing on a new wicket and we want to see how the pitch plays. Same mindset here as well. We need to stabilise the rhytmn from game one and that's happened. Important to steady the ship from here, boys are in high spirits. Need to maintain composure and calmness throughout the season. We've played the practice games here so we know how the wicket will play. We played our last two games on red soil so hopefully we can adapt early."

Meanwhile RR skipper Sanju Samson, after losing the toss, said:

"Pretty happy to bat first and put on a decent total. (On playing as an impact sub earlier) I could feel what the coaches would be going through, a bit restless and helpless. But excited to be back now. It is a new team and team management, we have got to know each other now and it takes a bit of time. We are geling better now, last game we pretty much had the perfect game. We have a small niggle for Tushar Deshpande, so he's out for today and Yudhvir comes in for him."

Punjab Kings (Playing XI):

Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings Impact Subs: Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI):

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(c), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Sandeep Sharma

Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal

Pitch Report

"It is very cool tonight. It is 65m to the off side and 68m to the leg side for a right hander. The straigther boundaries are longer. There is some live grass but not too much in the middle. These wickets stay consistent for 40 overs, it is pretty hard and the surface hasn't changed too much from last season. It is pretty windy so there won't be much of dew as well. 170-180 would be a par score on this surface," Ian Bishop and Michael Clarke analysed the pitch.

PBKS vs RR head-to-head record

PBKS and RR have locked horns with each other 28 times in IPL so far. Out of these 28 encounter, RR have emerged victorious on 16 occasion, while PBKS have won 12 matches