Punjab Kings will face Gujarat Titans in the 18th game of the IPL 2023 on April 13. Both teams have won two games out of three. In their previous game, Punjab Kings lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad despite a fantastic batting performance from Shikhar Dhawan, who scored an unbeaten 99 runs. Gujarat Titans lost their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, despite a strong batting performance from Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar. The defending champions will have Hardik Pandya back in the playing 11 for the game against Punjab Kings.
The Titans won the toss and opted to field first. The Kings’ captain, Shikhar Dhawan, expressed that they were looking to bowl first and put up a great show after their loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous match. The Kings made two changes to their lineup, bringing in Kagiso Rabada for Nathan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa for Raza.
Dhawan: Doesn’t bother us. Were looking to bowl first. We have been playing good cricket. Quite normal to go through this in cricket. Won’t be the first time or the last (loss against SRH). Looking forward to put up a great show. Two changes – Rabada coming in for Nathan. Bhanuka coming in for Raza.
Hardik: Bowling first. Just looks like a good wicket, and from whatever I’ve seen it’s good to chase. Was a one-in-a-million defeat. We are a kind of team that takes it with a smile. Played good cricket until that last over. It happens. It’s a fresh game. We’ll come out and smile, and throw some punches. I don’t know (any changes?). It’s there in the paper.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Matthew Short, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rishi Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Joshua Little
