IPL 2024: Dhawan still out with injury as PBKS elect to bat against Gujarat Titans
Mullanpur (Punjab), April 21: Punjab Kings' stand-in skipper Sam Curran won the toss and elected to bat first against Gujarat Titans in Match 37 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.
Punjab Kings are still without injured regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan and went in unchanged from their last game against Mumbai Indians.
Stand-in skipper Sam Curran said they would like to put in the runs and try their best. "Try and put runs on the pitch. Our record here has not been the best but hope to put pressure on the Gujarat bowlers. (Must win?) It is, that's the exciting thing about the IPL. Any team can beat anyone. The boys are excited for this game.
He agreed that the big boys have to step up and make an impact. "Exactly. It's about our overseas players taking responsibility and helping our Indian players. (Dhawan?) Still not playing. Same team," he said.
Gujarat Titans skipper Shubham Gill said they would have liked to bowl first in case he had won the toss. Gujarat made one change in their playing XI with Azmatullah Omarzai coming in for Spencer Johnson.
"I would've bowled first. They used the same pitch for the last match but looks like a good wicket. Halfway through the season, every game becomes important for us," he said.
"We've played some good cricket and we've played some average cricket. Need to pick up our socks. In the middle, we had unfortunate injuries. But Omarzai comes back for us, in place of Spencer. We want to restrict them to 160-170, one side of this ground is big," he added.
Playing XIs:
Punjab Kings: Rilee Rossouw, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh
Substitutes: Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Shivam Singh, Rishi Dhawan and Vidwath Kaverappa
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sandeep Warrier
Substitutes: Sharath BR, Manav Suthar, Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore. Vijay and Darshan Nalkande.