IPL 2026: Shreyas Iyer wins the toss; PBKS will bowl first against SRH

Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first against SRH. Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad are going head-to-head in New Chandigarh.

After winning the toss, Shreyas Iyer was happy to bowl first. The PBKS skipper wanted to chase in the day game.

“We`re going to bowl first. It`s a day game and obviously want to get a knack of how the wicket is going to play and a fair idea. But other than that, that`s what we`ve been doing in the last couple of games. We`ve been thriving on that. (Things to address?) I personally feel that you can`t control the nature of the weather. You`ve just got to go with the flow. And I personally feel that we don`t have to address anything at any point of time. Just back each other, back all the youngsters in the team. The more you tell them, the more confusing it gets for them. So, it`s better that they live in their own nature and express themselves. No, we`re going with the same team. Actually, bowling first, Priyansh comes in for Nehal.” Shreyas Iyer said.

Ishan Kishan admitted that he would have liked to bowl first too, but did not mind batting first on a fresh wicket.

“We would have loved to bowl first. But yeah, I think wicket looks pretty hard to me. And it`s about playing good cricket in the first innings. (On captaining) Obviously, it`s a big disadvantage for any team, Pat is a tremendous bowler. He gets on with an experience of his. But still, I feel we`ve got a young side, young bowlers today in the team. And hopefully, we`ll just try and execute the plans, which is the most important thing in T20 cricket. Yeah, there are two changes. Salil comes in in place of Livingstone and Praful Hinge, it`s his debut game, in place of Jaydev Unadkat.” Kishan said.

Confirmed Playing XI for both teams:

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

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