Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders. Captain Shreyas Iyer surprised everyone by forgetting his team’s playing XI.
Captain’s Blunder
Forgetting the playing XI is usually associated with Rohit Sharma, but Shreyas Iyer had a similar slip-up in IPL 2025. At the toss, Iyer said he’d reveal his team later, admitting he couldn’t recall it at the moment.
KKR’s Strategy Pays Off
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane was thrilled to bowl first, despite losing the toss. He believed his team’s batting lineup could chase down any target. Rahane’s strategy included dropping Moeen Ali for fast bowler Anrich Nortje.
The venue, Mulllanpur, has hosted seven IPL matches. The team batting first has won four times, while the chasing team has won three times. The average score for the team batting first is 180 runs.
Punjab Kings’ XI included Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ lineup featured Quinton de Kock, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, and Varun Chakravarthy.