IPL 2026: Unbeaten PBKS asked to bat against Rajasthan Royals in New Chandigarh
New Chandigarh, April 28
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field against Punjab Kings in the 40th match of the Indian Premier League 2026 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh, on Tuesday.
Shimron Hetmyer and Ravi Bishnoi have been replaced by Dasun Shanaka and Yash Punja in the eleven for Rajasthan. For Punjab, Suryansh Shedge and Lockie Ferguson come in for Shashank Singh and Xavier Bartlett.
Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag said, "We are going to bowl first. Looks like a pretty good wicket. But there was a bit of cloud cover and a bit of a shower as well. A little bit of moisture at the start. We are trying to strike that to get some early wickets. Hopefully chase it down. 2 changes, Hetmyer sits out, Dasun Shanaka comes in. Ravi Bishnoi goes out, Yash Punja comes in. It is very hard to practice that, but everyone's played a lot of cricket, and you have to really keep your nerve in a pressure situation and test your character."
Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer said, "We would have loved to bowl first as well. I asked one of my team members. The wicket was covered for the last few days because of the weather. All of us are proactive, irrespective of whether we are bowling first or second. We have one forced change. Suryansh comes in place of Shashank. Also, Lockie comes in place of Xavier. All the individuals have goals to achieve. We know what we have to do to achieve those goals. It's important to keep the momentum. On behalf of the whole team, I want to express my condolences to Azmat and his family for the loss. We are with him during this hard time."
Playing XIs:
Rajasthan Royals: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Punja
Impact substitutes: Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Ravi Bishnoi, Ravi Singh
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact substitutes: Musheer Ahmed Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett, Harpreet Brar
— IANS
Reader Comments
Tough loss for Shashank Singh, but Suryansh Shedge is a promising talent. Punjab batting looks solid with Stoinis and Jansen in the lower order. Expecting a high-scoring thriller!
Shreyas Iyer's tribute to Azmat and family was very touching. That's the spirit of sportsmanship. Hope PBKS continues their winning streak at this beautiful new stadium in Mullanpur! 🙏
Honestly, I feel Rajasthan Royals are missing a solid Indian middle-order option. Relying too much on Parag and Jurel. Dasun Shanaka is okay but Hetmyer was explosive. Bit of a strange change. But let's see how it plays out.
Yuzvendra Chahal against Rajasthan? That's going to be interesting! He knows those batters well. And Priyansh Arya opening with Prabhsimran - young guns are on fire this season! 🔥🔥
The new stadium in New Chandigarh looks amazing on TV. Ground is huge. Feel sorry for Xavier Bartlett missing out after some good bowling. Healthy competition in PBKS camp!
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.