Punjab Kings (PBKS) made history on Sunday, May 19, during their final match of the IPL 2024 season against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Several key players were missing for PBKS. Regular captain Shikhar Dhawan was injured, and vice-captain Sam Curran was unavailable. Jitesh Sharma, leading the franchise for the first time, was forced to make significant changes to the line-up. Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, and Kagiso Rabada were all unavailable. Bairstow, Livingstone, and Woakes left for international duty with England ahead of their series against Pakistan, while Rabada was sidelined with injury.
This left Rilee Rossouw as the only overseas player available for selection for PBKS. Even Nathan Ellis, the other overseas player, wasn't included in the playing XI or the impact substitute options for undisclosed reasons. Consequently, PBKS fielded a historic team with just one overseas player, marking the first time in the IPL's 17-year history that a team has played with such a limited foreign contingent. Previously, the lowest number of overseas players fielded in an IPL match was two.
| Team | Opponents | Number of overseas players | Players | Year |
| KKR | CSK | 2 | Eoin Morgan, Jacques Kallis | 2011 |
| DC | MI | 2 | Tim Seifert, Rovman Powell | 2022 |
| MI | RCB | 2 | Tim David, Kieron Pollard | 2022 |
| MI | SRH | 2 | Tim David, Nuwan Tushara | 2024 |
| MI | KKR | 2 | Tim David, Nuwan Tushara | 2024 |
| PBKS | SRH | 1 | Rilee Rossouw | 2024 |
In the ongoing match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. The Punjab Kings' batting attack put on a strong display against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Opener Prabhsimran Singh led the charge with a well-compiled 71 runs before being dismissed by Vijayakanth Viyaskanth. Atharv Taide provided valuable support at the other end, contributing 46 runs before T Natarajan got his wicket.
South African Rilee Rossouw continued the momentum with a brisk 49 runs before falling prey to Pat Cummins' bowling. A brief cameo from Shashank Singh (2 runs) ended in a run-out. Jitesh Sharma, the stand-in captain, provided a late flurry with an unbeaten 32 runs off just 15 deliveries, propelling the Punjab Kings past the coveted 200-run mark.
In reply, SRH rode on Abhishek Sharma's stunning knock to chase down the 215-run target with four wickets to spare.
PBKS Playing XI
Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Ashutosh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar
SRH Playing XI
Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
