Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma on his Punjab Kings (PBKS) captaincy debut won the toss and opted to bat first at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. Jitesh revealed that because most of the overseas player have gone home only South African batter Rilee Rossouw will play.
“We would like to bat. I think wicket is looking good, we want to score big and put SRH under pressure. Proud and grateful to captain my side today. We have few options because all the overseas have gone gone. Only Rilee Rossouw is gonna play. We have exciting talent waiting for their opportunity and they are gonna give their best today. Nothing to lose today, we are here to play some good cricket,” Jitesh said after winning the toss.
Pat Cummins made just one change to the side. He brought in Rahul Tripathi for a bowler.
“The fans have been awesome this season here. We are pretty well set-up for both (bat first or ball first). I'm a terrible reader of wickets, looks like a nice wicket. Looks dry and firm. Only one change for us. Rahul Tripathi comes in for a bowler,” Cummins said at the toss.
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
Head-to-head
The two teams have gone up against each other 22 times. SRH have emerged victorious on 15 occasions.
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