Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: unjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first against Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign opener at New Chandigarh in Punjab on Tuesday.For the Punjab Kings, Priyansh Arya did not make it to the starting XI. However, the star batted was named in the impact subs list and is expected to come to bat in the second innings.Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, and Suryansh Shedge were also named in the impact substitutes players list of Punjab.For the Gujarat Titans, India pacer Prasidh Krishna was not named in the starting XI, but was in the team’s impact players list. Gujarat Titans Impact subs: Prasidh Krishna, Jason Holder, Jayant Yadav, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra.Speaking during the toss, PBKS skipper Iyer said, “We are going to bowl first. We had a phenomenal last season. We have to stay in the present. We did not have to think about the past. We need to play our best brand of cricket. Cooper Connolly, is in. (Marcus) Stoinis, (Xavier) Bartlett and Marco Jansen (other overseas players).Also, GT skipper Gill said that two players, New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips and Rajasthan pacer Ashok Sharma will be making their debuts for the franchise and revealed the team’s overseas line-up as well.“The wicket looks pretty good. Rain on and off over the last two days. Looks like a good wicket to bat on. Last year, we had a pretty good season. Two debutants – Glenn and Ashok Sharma. We have got Jos (Buttler), Glenn, Rashid (Khan) and (Kagiso) Rabada,” he said.Having won the title in their debut season in 2022, Gujarat Titans have remained one of the most consistent sides, finishing third last year before losing to Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator.They look one of the most settled units again, retaining 20 players. The opening pair of Gill and Sai Sudharsan — last season’s top scorer with 759 runs — remains their biggest strength.Sudharsan is returning after a rib fracture but was in fine touch in domestic cricket, including an unbeaten 101 and multiple fifties before the injury.GT also have exciting backup options like wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra, who impressed in domestic cricket with a strike rate of over 160 and an average above 60 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He would offer flexibility if the middle order struggles.For Punjab Kings, much will again depend on skipper Shreyas, a proven IPL leader who has now taken three different teams to the final (Delhi Capitals in 2020, KKR in their 2024 triumph and PBKS last season).Playing XIGujarat Titans (Playing XI): Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, M Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Mohammed SirajPBKS (bowling first): Prabhsimran Singh, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
