Mohali, (Samajweekly) Hardik Pandya returned to captain Gujarat Titans as the defending champions won the toss and elected to bowl first against Punjab Kings at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium on Thursday.
Both teams are into this game after facing defeats in their last match. While Gujarat lost to Kolkata Knight Riders as Rinku Singh hit five sixes on the last five balls, Punjab went down to Sunrisers Hyderabad despite captain Shikhar Dhawan making 99 not out in a batting masterclass.
“Just looks like a good wicket, and from whatever I’ve seen it’s good to chase. Was a one-in-a-million defeat (to Kolkata). We are the kind of team that takes it with a smile. Played good cricket until that last over. It happens. It’s a fresh game. We’ll come out and smile, and throw some punches,” said Hardik, who missed the game against Kolkata due to being unwell.
While Gujarat have given a debut cap to pacer Mohit Sharma, who last played an IPL game in 2020, Dhawan said South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada comes in for Australia fast bowler Nathan Ellis while Sri Lanka left-handed batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa replaces Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza in the playing eleven.
“We were looking to bowl first. We have been playing good cricket. Quite normal to go through this in cricket. Won’t be the first time or the last (loss to Hyderabad). Looking forward to putting up a great show.”
Playing XIs:
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma and Joshua Little
Substitutes: Vijay Shankar, Shivam Mavi, Jayant Yadav, Abhinav Manohar, K.S. Bharat
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rishi Dhawan and Arshdeep Singh
Substitutes: Harpreet Bhatia, Rahul Chahar, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Gurnoor Brar
