Lucknow Super Giants opt to bowl
Pant opts to chase as Iyer backs first innings test
Rishabh Pant chose to bowl first, saying he prefers a target and feels chasing a bigger score brings clarity. He said the opposition have been strong but his side can play with freedom when the total is known. One change sees Rathi out and Siddharth in.
Shreyas Iyer said it is a useful test for his side, who have not batted first yet. He framed it as a focus on their own standards rather than the opposition. He confirmed an unchanged XI and expects a strong batting effort under pressure.
Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI: Mitchell Marsh, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Mohsin Khan
Punjab Kings Playing XI: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Substitutes:
Punjab Kings: Harpreet Brar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Suryansh Shedge, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod
Lucknow Super Giants: Abdul Samad, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Himmat Singh
Pitch Report: Chandigarh is hot, and the surface is fresh with grass and a few cracks. Boundaries vary from 61 to 74 metres. Some early swing is possible, but no dew is expected, so toss may not matter much. Another 200-plus total looks likely on this ground.
Rishabh Pant chose to bowl first, saying he prefers a target and feels chasing a bigger score brings clarity. He said the opposition have been strong but his side can play with freedom when the total is known. One change sees Rathi out and Siddharth in.
Shreyas Iyer said it is a useful test for his side, who have not batted first yet. He framed it as a focus on their own standards rather than the opposition. He confirmed an unchanged XI and expects a strong batting effort under pressure.