Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat first on May 18 at Sawai Mansingh stadium against Rajasthan Royals (RR). Iyer handed debut cap to Australia's 23-year-old batting order Mitchell Owen. Other overseas players in PBKS side are Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai and Xavier Bartlett.
"We are going to bat first. The wicket looks fantastic, know how it plays here. The powerhouse has been our batting, so got to make the best use of it. Everyone is in high spirits. The mindset has been strong. Trying to make the best use of the sources. Kudos to the Army forces. Mitch Owen, Jansen, Omarzai are playing," Iyer said after winning the toss.
Sanju Samson replaced an injured Nitish Rana in the side. He replaced England Jofra Archer with South Africa's young left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka. The captain also revealed that he will bat at no.3 and Vaibhav Suryavanshi will continue to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.
"Wanted to bowl first after how the pitch behaved in the last game against RCB. Let's see how it plays out today. I am okay, hundred percent fit. I would love to respect where he (Suryavanshi) is batting. He has played well for us. I will bat down the order, I come in for Nitish Rana. Maphaka comes in for Jofra Archer," Samson said at the coin toss.
RR Playing XI
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kwena Maphaka, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi
RR Impact Subs: Kumar Kartikeya, Shubham Dubey, Ashok Sharma, Kunal Singh Rathore, Yudhvir Singh Charak
PBKS Playing XI:
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Mitchell Owen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS Impact Subs: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan
RR vs PBKS head-to-head
RR have dominated PBKS as far as head-to-head is concerned. Out of 29 clashes between the two, PBKS have won 17. In their previous clash, RR had beaten PBKS by 50 runs in Mullanpur.