Glenn Phillips is set to make his debut for the Gujarat-based franchise, and Ashok Sharma will play his first match in the cash-rich league. On the other hand, Punjab Kings' Cooper Conolly is set to make his first appearance in the IPL
Shreyas Iyer (Pic: File Pic)
In the IPL 2026 match against Gujarat Titans (GT), Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shreyas Iyer has won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.
After winning the toss, PBKS's skipper Iyer said, "We're going to bowl first. I firmly believe that chasing gives you a fair idea about how to go about the target. And also, we played a couple of practice games and whatever total was scored, I think it was easily chased down. So, thinking that at the back of my mind, I'm taking that decision. (Message to the team coming into this season) Honestly speaking, we had a phenomenal last season, but it's over now. We start from ball one and the only message I have given them is just be yourselves, go out there and express to the best of your abilities and see to it that you're in the present moment, not thinking way beyond because T20 is such a format where you actually think way ahead of the game. So, the more time you give yourself, the better position you'll be in. (On not having a great record at this venue) I personally feel that we don't have to think much about what the result has been in the past. We just want to play the best brand of cricket we've been playing and the boys when they came in, all of them were in great mind space and it's important that we think about now and not think about what has gone past by. So, my only thinking is that we just got to stay in the present and see to it that we play the best game possible. (Overseas players) Cooper has come in, so he's a new addition to the team. Stoinis is there, Bartlett and Jansen".
Glenn Phillips is set to make his debut for the Gujarat-based franchise, and Ashok Sharma will play his first match in the cash-rich league.
On the other hand, Punjab Kings' Cooper Conolly is set to make his first appearance in the IPL.
On the other hand, GT's captain Shubman Gill said, "Very good. I think the wicket looks pretty good. It has been under the covers for the past couple of days, rain on and off, and a bit cloudy. But when we came in today, we looked at the wicket, it looked like a pretty good wicket to bat on. Even last year as well, we had a pretty successful season. Up until the 13th match, we were at the number one position. And obviously, we lost out here at the qualifiers, which was also a close game. There were some areas that I felt we needed to work on, and fielding was one of them. And this year, it's all about having that extra 5 per cent adding up in our batting, bowling, and fielding. And that will be the challenge for us. We've got actually two debutants. Glenn is making a debut for us, and Ashok Sharma is also making a debut for us. And in terms of our overseas, we've got Jos, Glenn, Rashid, and Rabada. (On Buttler) He's such an experienced player. The value that he brings, not just as a batsman, but as a player into the team, is immense for us. And I'm pretty sure he's going to have another great year with us".
IPL 2026, Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans: Confirmed Playing XI
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (C), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (C), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (WK), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Mohammed Siraj.
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