The Punjab Kings suffered a setback ahead of their critical IPL 2024 match against the Rajasthan Royals on Saturday as captain Shikhar Dhawan missed the game due to a niggle. Sam Curran led the team in Dhawan's absence.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to field first. The Royals themselves were missing key players due to injuries, with star batsman Jos Buttler and experienced all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin unavailable. Rovman Powell and Tanush Kotian replaced them in the Rajasthan lineup.
"We'll bowl first, it looks like a decent wicket to bowl on first," Samson said after winning the toss. "We've made a target to not think about the goal, focus on the process, work on building the team, and we're doing well. A lot of challenges outside as well, we've got many players missing from tonight's game. Ninety percent of the game was good – Jos isn't fully fit, Ashwin has a niggle, so Rovman and Kotian come into the XI."
Punjab Kings welcomed back Liam Livingstone to the playing XI after a two-game injury absence. He replaced Sikandar Raza. Young batsman Atharva Taide, who played in the IPL 2023, came in for Shikhar Dhawan.
"Shikhar picked up a niggle, that's why I'm here," Sam Curran said. "We would have bowled first as well, but we'll now have to put the runs on the board. The balance has been good, we'd have liked to win a few more games, but the middle-order looks good, especially Shashank and Ashutosh. We've got exciting players and plenty of quality. We've got Atharva Taide coming in for Shikhar tonight, Livingstone is back as well."
Playing XIs:
Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (c), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Tanush Kotian, Trent Boult, Keshav Maharaj, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal.
