New Chandigarh, April 11 (NationPress) The Punjab Kings triumphed at the toss, opting to bowl first against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 17th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, held at the PCA New International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The PBKS squad remains unchanged, while the Sunrisers made some adjustments, dropping Liam Livingstone and Jaydev Unadkat. Praful Hinge is set to make his debut, and Salil Arora returns to the playing XI.

Under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer, the Punjab Kings have had a stellar start in the season, remaining undefeated in their opening three matches. They clinched a three-wicket victory over the Gujarat Titans and followed it with a five-wicket win against the Chennai Super Kings. However, their most recent match against the Kolkata Knight Riders was abandoned due to rain.

In contrast, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have faced an up-and-down campaign. They started with a six-wicket defeat to the Royal Challengers Bangalore but rallied back with a convincing 65-run win against Kolkata. However, they head into Saturday’s match after suffering a five-wicket loss to the Lucknow Super Giants.

After winning the toss, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer commented, "We are going to bowl first. Being a day game, we want to gauge how the wicket will play. This has been our strategy in recent matches, and we have been thriving on it. (Regarding any issues to address?) I believe it’s essential to flow with the weather’s unpredictability. We need to support each other and let our young players express themselves. We're sticking with the same team," he added.

Sunrisers captain Ishan Kishan, upon losing the toss, shared, "We would have preferred to bowl first. The wicket appears quite hard, and it’s vital to play well in the first innings. It can be a significant disadvantage for any team. Pat is an exceptional bowler with vast experience. However, I trust our young bowlers to execute their plans, which is crucial in T20 cricket. We have made two changes: Salil replaces Livingstone, and Praful Hinge is making his debut in place of Jaydev Unadkat," he mentioned.

Playing XIs:

Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Substitutes: Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(wk/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga

Impact Substitutes: Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Praful Hinge, Kamindu Mendis