Punjab Kings will host defending champions Gujarat Titans in the 18th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023 at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Thursday. Both of these teams had lost their respective previous matches and they will be looking to get back to winning ways.
Punjab Kings could only score 143 runs in their last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The team’s skipper Shikhar Dhawan was the lone warrior as he scored 99 runs off 66 balls but the rest of the batters could not contribute much. Thus, the Mohali-based franchise will want to come up with a better batting performance against the Titans.
On the other hand, Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya missed the previous game against KKR due to illness. The reigning champions were in a shoo-in position against KKR when the latter needed 29 runs off the final over but Yash Dayal could not keep his nerves. It must be a good learning experience for the youngster and he would want to bounce back stronger.
Apart from the final over miracle, which was pulled off by Rinku Singh, Gujarat Titans have done a decent job. Vijay Shankar had scored a quickfire knock whereas Sai Sudharsan had scored his second successive fifty against KKR.
When these two teams faced each other in the previous season, both had won one match each.
Match Prediction: Gujarat Titans might start as favorites against Punjab Kings.
PBKS IPL 2023 SQUAD
Wicketkeepers: Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma.
Batters: Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (SL), M. Shahrukh Khan, Atharva Taide, Harpreet Bhatia.
All-rounders: Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone (ENG), Sam Curran (ENG), Sikandar Raza (ZIM), Shivam Singh, Mohit Rathee, Matthew Short.
Bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Ellis (AUS), Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada (SA), Vidwath Kaverappa.
GT Squad for IPL 2023: Wicketkeepers: Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade (AUS), KS Bharat, Urvil Patel.
Batters: Abhinav Manohar, David Miller (SA), Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson (NZ).
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan (AFG), Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Odean Smith (WI).
Bowlers: Alzarri Joseph (WI), Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad (AFG), R. Sai Kishore, Pradeep Sangwan, Yash Dayal, Jayant Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Joshua Little (IRE), Shivam Mavi.
