Gujarat Titans (GT) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash at the Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi stadium on May 3. 22-year-old allr-rounder from Haryana Nishant Sindhu made debut for GT. Meanwhile, Xavier Bartlett and Vijaykumar Vyshak walked into PBKS' playing XI.
What did the captains say at the toss?
GT skipper Shubman Gill, after winning the toss, said:
"We're gonna bowl first. I think we have been chasing well in the past few games and our bowling has been top-notch, so we thought we'll continue with the momentum. (Middle-order performing in the last game) Yeah, definitely in the last match, we spoke about our middle-order finishing the game and I think our Rahul bhai, batting in the middle, it was magnificent [to] watch and him finishing the game was exactly what we talked about. (What do you make of pitch?) Yeah, I think initially to start with there's something in it for the bowlers, particularly on this kind of a wicket. So hopefully we'll also see how it pans out. (What mark would you give the GT so far this season?) I think it's all about, especially in a tournament like IPL, such a long tournament, it's all about peaking at the right time and I think we are doing that. And I still feel our best game is yet to come, so I hopefully it's gonna be this one. (No changes?) One change - Nishant Sindhu makes his debut."
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Meanwhile, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer, after losing the toss, said:
"It (the pitch) looks beautiful. Some grass on the wicket and probably would extract a little bit of bounce considering it's the black soil. Pretty much unusual, but yeah we have played on this wicket before, but it looks beautiful. (Do you tinker with your side for tonight?) Yes, X (Xavier) comes in and Vyshak comes in as well in the bowling side. But apart from that, I feel that it's not frustration, it's just that you have learning in every game. And it's an intense league, honestly speaking. We travel, we have to come up fresh for the next game. So it takes a lot of efforts in the practice session as well. It's just that we haven't been able to execute the way we were supposed to, but it's just another game right now and we will see to it that we put our best foot forward and execute to the best of our abilities."
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Punjab Kings (Playing XI):
Prabhsimran Singh(w), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS' Impact Bench: Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Musheer Khan, Mitch Owen
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI):
Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Manav Suthar
GT's Impact Bench: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Kulwant Kejroliya